11  —  6 


ALUMNI  LIBRARY,  $ 

f    THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,    f 


PRINCETON,  N.  J.                            # 

V 

LIBEARY 

OF  THE       , 

Theological   Seminary, 

nDTMr-rrTnM      isr     t 

BV    2063    .S546    1836 

Skinner,    Thomas   Harvey,    1791 

-1871. 

Thoughts   on   evangelizing   the 

world 

* 

Bool.              ^D:... 

THOUGHTS 


EVANGELIZING 


THE  WORLD. 


^ 


THOMAS   H.   SKINNER. 


NEW-YORK 


JOHN     S.     TAYLOR, 

Brick  Church  Chapel,  Corner  of  Park  Row  aad  Nassau-streets 


1836. 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1836, 

BY  JOHN  S.  TAYLOR, 

Iu  the  Clerk's  Office  for  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


[H.  Ludwig,  Printer.] 


PREFACE. 


The  following  discourse  was  deliver- 
ed at  the  opening  of  the  Mercer-street 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  is  published 
at  the  request  of  the  Session  and  Trus- 
tees. 

In  acceding,  after  some  hesitation,  to 
the  request  for  its  publication,  the  au- 
thor had  no  higher  hope  than  that  pos- 
siblyhe  might ,  directly  or  indirectly,  ex- 
cite somewhat  more  of  reflection  on  the 
subject  of  his  remarks,  than  has  gene- 
rally been  given  to  it.  He  feels  per- 
fectly sure,  that  not  the  want  of  know- 


IV  PREFACE. 

ledge,  but  merely  of  reflection,  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word,  hinders  the  prin- 
ciples which  he  has  advanced,  from 
asserting  ascendant  power  in  the 
Church,  and  harmonizing  all  Chris- 
tians in  their  influence  and  efforts  in 
behalf  of  the  salvation  of  mankind. 
The  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
the  universal  spread  of  the  Gospel, 
he  is  persuaded,  is  not  physical,  but 
moral.  The  event  to  be  achieved  de- 
mands indeed,  the  exertion  of  the  Om- 
nipotent arm ;  but  is  not  Omnipotence 
pledged  for  its  achievement  whenever 
wisdom,  or  a  just  regard  to  what  on  the 
whole  is  best,  does  not  forbid?  And 
that  prohibition  never  stands  in  the 
way,  as  the  Scripture  plainly  teaches 
if  there  is  a  certain  condition  of 
things  in  the    Church,   which  cannot 


PREFACE.  V 

be  wanting  but  by  the  Church's  own 
fault.  Were  the  state  of  the  Church 
what  it  should  and  might  be,  the  work 
of  converting  men  would  cease  to  lin- 
ger. This,  it  is  supposed,  cannot  be 
doubted.  The  world  has  not  been  con- 
verted, because  the  moral  estate  of  the 
Church  has  been  so  low,  her  unfaithful- 
ness and  perverseness  so  great,  that  the 
divine  intervention  necessary  to  her 
triumph,  could  not  consistently  with  the 
ends  and  arrangements  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, be  vouchsafed.  This  is  the  les- 
son of  the  scripture  which  stands  at 
the  head  of  the  discourse ;  a  scripture 
deserving,  particularly  at  the  present 
day,  the  profoundest  meditation.  The 
psalmist  had  no  expectation  that  the 
world  would  ever  be  enlightened  and 
reformed,  but  by  means  of  an  antecedent 


VI  PREFACE. 

reform  in  the  Church:  he  therefore 
prays  that  God  would  show  his  sanc- 
tifying and  illuminating  mercy  to  the 
Church,  to  the  end  that  the  world 
through  the  appropriate  instrumental 
influence  may  be  partaker  of  the  same 
mercy.  His  prayer  accords  with  the 
established  order  of  God  in  respect  to 
this  matter,  as  revealed  every  where 
in  his  word,  and  as  acknowledged 
in  all  ages  by  the  Church.  Would  that 
due  reflection  might  be  given  to  the 
known  and  unchangeable  counsel  of 
Heaven,  on  which  this  prayer  proceeds, 
and  which,  with  so  much  pathos  it  en- 
forces !  Has  not  the  Church  entered 
unprepared  upon  her  work  ?  Has  she 
not  begun  it  without  being  endued  with 
power  from  on  high  ?  Has  she  received 
the  pre-requisite  anointing  of  the  Holy 


PREFACE.  Vll 

Spirit  ?  Do  not  continued  contentions 
and  divisions  and  other  deplorable 
evils  within  her  own  enclosures,  make, 
her  a  reproach  and  a  proverb  in  the 
view  of  that  world  which  she  has 
undertaken  to  gain  over  to  her  side? 
This  will  be  admitted,  probably ;  but  will 
it  be  reflected  upon,  will  it  be  laid  to  heart  ? 
The  Church  will  plead  guilty,  but  who  of 
her  members  will  reform  ?  I  hearkened 
and  heard,  but  they  spake  not  aright: 
no  man  repented  him  of  his  wickedness, 
saying;  what  have  I  done  ?  Every 
one  turned  to  his  course,  as  the  horse 
rusheth  into  the  battle. 

If  what  is  advanced  in  this  discourse 
shall  be  the  means  of  directing  the  en- 
livened attention  of  only  a  few  devout 
and  vigorous  minds  to  the  subject- 
matter  of  it,  the  author  will  have  strong 


Vlll  PREFACE 

hope  of  some  good  from  its  publication. 
The  time  is  drawing  nigh  when  the 
sentiments  of  it,  he  is  confident,  will 
not  be  as  much  disregarded  in  practice, 
as  they  have  been  ever  since  the  de- 
generacy of  the  Church. 


THOUGHTS    ON 


EVANGELIZING  THE  WORLD. 


"  God  be  merciful  unto  us,  and  bless  m,  and  cause 
his  face  to  shine  upon  us  :  Selah  !  That  thy  way 
may  be  known  upon  earth  ;  thy  saving  health 
among  all  nations."    Psalm  lxvii.  1,  2. 

The  present  times  are  in  many  of  their 
appearances  and  prognostics  different  from 
all  preceding  ones,  and  from  nearly  all,  in 
this,  that  the  Church  have  undertaken  to 
evangelize  the  World.  This,  be  it  thought 
of  as  it  may,  stands  high  among  the  enter- 
prises of  this  innovating  age.  Christians, 
to  a  wide  and  constantly  enlarging  extent, 

are  becoming  awake  to  the  fact,  that  evan- 

2 


10  THOUGHTS    ON 

gelizing  the  world  is  a  work  which  their 
Saviour  has  required  them  to  attempt,  and 
one  which  by  his  aid  will  be  accomplished. 
It  has  accordingly  been  systematically  en- 
tered upon.  The  process  of  planting 
Christian  churches  and  institutions  among 
the  unevangelized  millions  of  mankind, 
with  the  declared  purpose  never  to  cease 
from  the  undertaking  until  it  is  gone  through 
with,  has  been  begun  and  is  now  going  on. 
And  it  is  going  on,  under  the  advantage 
of  recent  inventions  and  improvements  in 
philosophy  and  the  arts.  The  press  is 
exerting  its  surprising  powers  on  a  vast 
scale,  to  give  the  scriptures  and  other  ve- 
hicles of  Christian  knowledge  free  circu- 
lation in  all  the  tongues  and  dialects  of 
man.  Christian  education  also  is  patient- 
ly insinuating  its  quiet  but  resistless  influ- 
ences into  the  great  mass  of  human  igno- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  11 

ranee.  A  manifest  improvement  too  has 
taken  place  in  the  character  of  the  minis- 
try. The  Apostles  and  first  evangelists, 
seem  as  it  were  to  have  risen  from  the 
dead  in  some  of  our  missionaries.  The 
character  likewise  of  preaching  and  pasto- 
ral labour,  in  many  parts  of  Christendom,  is 
undergoing  an  important  change.  The 
end  pursued  in  preaching,  both  publicly 
and  from  house  to  house,  is  now  as  it  was 
at  first,  the  immediate  conversion  of  men ; 
and  the  results  are  correspondent.  And 
the  general  piety  of  the  Church  is  gradu- 
ally becoming  more  and  more  like  that  of 
the  primitive  Christians.  In  appropriate 
and  efficient  methods,  the  private  members 
of  the  churches,  are  co-operating  with 
their  pastors  in  self-denying  labours  to 
bring  the  human  mind  universally  under 
the  power  of  the   gospel.      It   deserves 


12  THOUGHTS    ON 

moreover,  grateful  recognition,  that  the 
present,  in  a  degree  unprecedented  since 
the  primitive  times,  is  an  age  of  liberality. 
The  hope  seems  almost  warranted  by 
present  appearances,  that  the  day  is  not  far 
distant,  when  the  world  will  see  in  the 
Church,  the  complete  triumph  of  the  spirit 
of  beneficence  over  avarice.  Christians 
in  greater  numbers  and  more  abundantly 
than  at  any  former  period,  excepting  the 
first,  consecrate  their  wealth  to  carry  be- 
nevolent plans  into  effect  in  the  far  distant 
isles,  and  in  the  uttermost  ends  of  the 
earth  ;  and  we  have  specimens  of  munifi- 
cence which  would  not  have  done  dishonour 
to  the  apostolic  age  itself.  The  religious 
movements  of  the  times,  look  manifestly 
to  an  indefinite  enlargement  of  the  church 
as  their  end  ;  and  as  such  enlargement  is 
the  high  theme  of  prophecy,  so,  unless  we 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  13 

misjudge,  is  it  the  promise  of  the  present 
course  and  aspect  of  Providence. 

It  is  a  privilege  of  the  infant  church 
which  takes  possession,  for  the  first  time, 
to-day,  of  the  place  in  which  its  future 
worship  is  to  be  paid  to  the  Most  High, 
that  it  has  had  its  birth,  and  it  is  to  devel- 
ope  its  powers,  and  to  grow  to  maturity, 
and  take  shape  and  complexion,  if  it  please, 
under  the  benign  and  ennobling  influences 
of  this  most  auspicious  period.  How 
great  must  become  its  usefulness  and  fe- 
licity, if  it  fall  in  with  these  influences, 
and  avail  itself  fully  of  them,  in  seeking  the 
appropriate  end  of  its  calling,  and  its  exis- 
tence as  a  church  of  Jesus  Christ.  How 
unhappy,  on  the  other  hand,  should  it  con- 
travene these  influences,  or  fail  to  become 
an  instrument  of  their  just  developement. 
It  is  under  no  necessity  to  do  the  one  or 
2* 


14  THOUGHTS    ON 

the  other  of  these  things  ;  which  of  them 
it  shall  do,  depends  on  its  own  choice  ; 
and  its  choice,  in  this  instance,  will  proba- 
bly decide  its  character  and  its  destiny. 

Thus  persuaded,  I  have  supposed  that 
I  could  make  no  better  use  of  the  advan- 
tage which  the  present  occasion  gives  me, 
than  to  employ  it  in  inculcating  some  of 
the  most  important  of  those  principles,  by 
which,  I  think,  Christians  should  be  regu- 
lated in  exerting  their  influence  in  behalf 
of  their  great  cause  ;  principles,  which,  if 
we  faithfully  observe  them,  will  I  doubt  not, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  make  this  young 
church  a  praise  and  a  rejoicing  in  the  city 
and  in  the  land. 

I  assume,  that  the  principal  design  for 
which  all  Christians,  whether  as  individu- 
als or  as  associated  in  churches,  should 
live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being  in  the 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  15 

world,  is  not  selfish  but  benevolent,  not 
private  but  public,  not  the  advancement 
of  their  own  interest  separately,  but  of  the 
great  interest  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; 
in  a  word,  the  spread  and  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity among  mankind.  I  assume  this, 
and  I  may  safely  assume  it  now,  for  it  is 
fast  becoming,  as  has  already  been  remark- 
ed the  general  conviction  of  Christians. 
But  were  it  not  so,  we  ought  still  to  main- 
tain this  position.  There  is  nothing  more 
unquestionable,  nothing  more  manifestly 
true.  It  is  true,  and  it  is  a  truth  which 
should  be  asserted  and  published,  until  the 
full  power  of  it  is  felt  throughout  Chris- 
tendom and  the  world.  The  supreme  ob- 
ject for  which  every  Christian  on  earth 
should  live,  is  the  discipling  of  the  nations, 
the  evangelizing  of  mankind.  The  reli- 
gion of  Christians  was  intended  for  uni- 
versal propagation,  and  it  is  what  all  men 


16  THOUGHTS    ON 

infinitely  and  alike  need.  Wherever  this 
religion  is  not,  there  is  the  land  of  despair, 
the  region  of  the  shadow  of  death.  And 
Christians  are  the  selected  instruments  of 
its  propagation,  and  have  been  charged  by 
their  Saviour  himself,  to  undertake  the 
work  ;  and  while  he  has  plainly  said  that 
the  work  shall  be  done,  he  has  said  not 
less  plainly,  that  it  will  not  be  done  except 
by  the  personal  sacrifices  and  labours  of  his 
followers.  And  besides  all  this,  the  very 
genius  of  Christianity,  like  the  light  of  day, 
is  boundlessly  diffusive,  and  leads  every 
mind  whom  it  influences  to  seek  its  bound- 
less spread.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  a  man 
to  do  a  thing  more  eminently  Christian,  or 
take  any  step  better  adapted  to  advance 
himself  in  the  Christian  life,  than  to  give 
himself  entirely  to  the  work  of  making  the 
world  Christian.  I  will  only  add  that  all 
our  obligations  in  this  great  concern,  re- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  17 

ceive  extraordinary  enforcement  from  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  as  briefly  sketched  at  the 
outset ;  and  that  Christians  and  churches, 
who  do  not  in  these  times  make  the  chris- 
tianizing of  man,  the  chief  end  of  their 
enterprize  and  zeal,  should  indulge  small 
hope  of  success,  unless  they  can  prevail 
both  against  the  inherent  powers  of  their 
religion,  and  against  as  strong  a  current  of 
providential  influences  as  ever  men,  in  the 
madness  of  their  hearts,  attempted  to  re- 
sist. 

Taking  then  for  granted  that  to  evan- 
gelize the  world  is  the  great  object  of  pur- 
suit to  all  Christians,  I  advance  and  shall 
endeavour  to  maintain  the  following,  as 
principles,  by  which  their  efforts  in  prose- 
cuting this  object  should  be  regulated  ; — 
namely  : 

That   they  should  seek  to  propagate 


18 


THOUGHTS    ON 


substantial  Christianity,  rather  than  any 
sectarian  form  of  it ; 

That  they  should  lay  their  plans 
of  evangelism,  so  as  to  admit  the  coalition 
of  all  Christians  ; 

That  they  should  so  conduct  their 
proceedings  as  to  evade  as  far  as  possible 
opposition  from  the  world  ; 

That  nevertheless,  the  utmost  zeal 
and  resolution  are  indispensable  to  carry- 
ing the  work  forward  ;   But,  after  all, 

That  they  should  depend  for  suc- 
cess, not  on  their  own  exertions,  however 
unexceptionable,  but  on  the  co-operation  of 
the  divine  Power. 

I.  My  first  remark  is,  that  in  our  efforts 
to  evangelize  the  world  we  should  seek  to 
propagate  substantial  Christianity  rather 
than  any  sectarian  form  of  it.  Perhaps  it 
is  necessary  that  I  should  here  explain 
myself. 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  19 

Among  the  various  sects  of  true*  Chris- 
tians, there  are  of  course  peculiarities 
which  distinguish  and  unhappily  divide 
them  from  one  another  ;  and  there  is  also 
a  common  faith,  which  distinguishes  them 
all  from  the  world,  but  which  indissolubly 
unites  them  to  one  another  and  to  the  great 
family  of  God  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 
Their  common  faith  is  substantial,  and 
their  party  peculiarities  are  sectarian  Chris- 
tianity. My  position  is,  that  in  their  ef- 
forts to  spread  the  Gospel  among  man- 
kind, Christians  should  seek  to  propagate, 
not  the  latter  but  the  former,  their  common 

*  As  all  were  not  Israel  who  were  of  Israel,  so  all  are  not  Christians 
who  have  assumed  the  Christian  name.  I  speak  not  of  nominal  but 
real  Christians.  My  object  does  not  require  me  to  specify  the  points  in 
which  the  latter  are  always  distinguished  from  the  former.  That  there 
are  such  points  is  certain  ;  and  it  is  also  certain,  in  my  own  belief,  that 
these  points,  relate  to  doctrine,  as  well  as  spirit  and  conduct.  I  assume 
that  these  points  are  known,  and  that  those  only  are  admitted  to  be  true 
Christians  who  are  not  radically  delinquent  in  respect  to  them.  I  speak 
exclusively  of  those  who  are  admitted  to  be  the  true  followers  and 
friends  of  Christ. 


20  THOUGHTS    ON 

faith — not  their  sectarian  peculiarities,  what 
they  agree,  not  what  they  differ  in, — what 
unites,  not  what  divides  them.  To  be,  if 
possible,  yet  more  explicit,  I  mean  to  say, 
and  shall  attempt  to  prove,  that  their  ob- 
ject should  be  to  propagate  not  both  what 
they  agree  and  what  they  differ  in ;  but 
what  they  agree  in  exclusively  of  what 
they  differ  in.*  I  am  aware  that  there  are 
those  who  may  consider  this  a  startling 
paradox,  and  I  should  not  advance  it  but 


*It  were  well,  I  think,  if  even  ordinary  discourses  from  the  pulpit  were 
restricted  to  these  undisputed  points.  These  points  are  sufficiently  nu- 
merous and  comprehensive  to  engross  all  the  time  and  strength  of 
preachers ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  a  promiscuous  congregation  on 
earth  that  are  not  liable  to  be  more  injured  than  profitted  by  polemical 
sermons.  To  what  does  the  most  laborious  indoctrination  of  the  com- 
mon people  in  polemical  divinity  generally  amount  ?  But  have  I  not 
used  an  improper  epithet  ?  It  is  not  controversial  preaching  that  de- 
mands labour,  but  the  practical  enforcement  of  the  great  fundamentals 
of  the  gospel!  Is  not  this  among  the  reasons  why  controversy  in  the 
pulpit  is  so  common?  If  a  preacher  wishes  to  make  what  most  of  his 
hearers  will  think  an  able  discourse,  at  little  expense  of  either  time  or 
thought,  let  him  take  as  his  theme,  not  some  common-place  topic  of 
morals,  or  some  article  of  the  common  faith,  but  a  subject  which  will 
allow  him  to  raise  and  resolve  sectarian  questions  at  pleasure. 


EVANGELIZING   THE    WORLD.  21 

from  the  most  imperative  sense  both  of  its 
truth,  and  of  the  infinite  importance  of  its 
being  practically  acknowledged  as  truth. 
The  following  are  the  grounds  of  this 
conviction. 

1.  Importance  belongs  to  what  Chris- 
tians agree  in,  comparative  nothingness  to 
what  divides  them  into  sects.  Of  this, 
much  as  it  is  practically  contradicted,  per- 
haps no  Christian  would  be  thought  seri- 
ously to  entertain  a  doubt.  What  Chris- 
tians agree  in  is  what  makes  them  Chris- 
tians; what  they  differ  in,  is  what  has 
given  rise  to  their  other  names — names 
which  will  not  be  known  in  heaven,  and  it 
were  well  if  they  should  from  this  moment 
pass  into  perpetual  oblivion.  This  thought 
I  would  fain  indelibly  impress  on  every 
mind,  that  it  is  the  faith  all  Christians  hold 
in  common,  in  which  salvation  lies.     It 

does  not  lie  in  points  of  sectarian  contro- 
3 


22  THOUGHTS    ON 

versy,  but  in  those  great  fundamentals  which 
unite  all  Christians  together,  and  make  them 
one  brotherhood,  one  indissoluble  body, 
the  body  of  Christ.     Let  me  state  this 
truth  strongly,  for  so  I   think  it  should 
be  stated.     Presbyterians  are  not  saved  by 
their  Presbyterian  peculiarities,  nor  Epis- 
copalians by  theirs,  nor  Independents  by 
theirs ;  but  all  are  saved  by  what  all  hold 
in  common,  by  what  makes  them  Chris- 
tians, not  what  makes  them  sectarians. 
A  man  may  be  a  sincere  and  zealous  sec- 
tarian and  yet  be  at  heart  an  enemy  to 
Christianity,  and  be  lost ;  lost  he  cannot  be, 
and  be  a  Christian.     He  may  be  a  secta- 
rian without  being  a  Christian,  and  he  may 
be  a  Christian  without  being  a  sectarian  ; 
and  if  he  is  but  a  Christian,  he  is   a  child 
of  God,  a  member  of  Christ,  and  an  heir 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  though  every 
sect  on  earth  should  deny  him  its  distinctive 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  23 

name.*  It  is  this  unquestioned  fact,  that 
justifies  the  remark,  that  sectarian  differ- 
ences, compared  to  substantial  Christi- 
anity are  unimportant.  The  remark  is 
true,  unless  it  be  not  true  that  nothing 
temporal  and  momentary  is  worthy  to  be 
compared  with  the  salvation  of  the  immor- 
tal soul.  Now  as  to  the  conclusiveness 
of  this  remark,  as  an  argument  for  my  po- 
sition ; — the  propriety  of  insisting  upon 
points,  comparatively  unimportant,  de- 
pends always  upon  the  nature  of  the  busi- 
ness in  hand.     If  the  business  be  trivial, 

*  There  are  those  who  deem  the  divisions  and  disputes  of  the  various 
churches,  a  sufficient  apology  for  not  connecting  themselves  with  any 
particular  church.  But  if  these  persons  could  justify  themselves  in  their 
visible  disunion  from  the  church,  the  non-existence  of  the  visible  church 
itself  were  perhaps  desirable,  since  that  event  would  take  place  if  their  ex- 
ample should  be  universally  followed.  Deeply  as  the  existence  of  sects 
is  to  be  deplored,  it  is  well  on  the  whole  that  the  visible  church,  divided 
as  it  is,  remains;  it  is  not  wholly  deserted  by  Heaven,  and  what  God  in 
his  forbearance  and  grace  accepts,  man  should  not  be  so  zealous  for 
perfect  purity  and  peace  as  to  disown.  The  author  speaks,  in  the  text, 
not  of  those  who  will  not  belong  to  the  visible  church,  because  if  they 
do  so,  they  must  connect  themselves  with  a  sect ;  but  of  those  whom 
the  sects  will  not,  while  admitting  them  to  be  Christians,  receive  into 
their  associations. 


24  THOUGHTS    ON 

and  the  consequences  of  no  moment, 
whether  it  be  done  or  not  done,  then  little 
matters  may  have  attention  ;  but  if  the  bu- 
siness be  of  the  gravest  sort,  demanding 
the  utmost  application  and  despatch,  it  is 
most  unmeet  and  unrighteous  to  give  any 
place  whatever  to  unimportant  things.  If 
for  example,  the  nation  was  at  war  with  a 
foreign  power,  and  the  crisis  of  the  contest 
had  come,  and  the  leaders  of  the  national 
forces  should,  the  hour  previous  to  entrance 
on  the  decisive  battle,  give  themselves  to 
disputes  about  matters  of  personal  or  pri- 
vate difference,  instead  of  confining  their 
attention  to  what  was  peremptorily  de- 
manded by  the  great  exigency  they  were 
called  to  meet,  with  what  indignation  would 
their  conduct  fill  the  land  ?  They  would 
deserve  the  indignation  and  abhorrence  of 
all  men.  Now  the  enterprise  of  propa- 
gating Christianity,  if  it  be  not  perfectly 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  25 

visionary  and  idle,  is  the  gravest,  the 
weightiest,  the  most  pressing  work  in 
which  men  or  angels  ever  were  engaged  : 
it  is  an  enterprise  contemplating  the  rescue 
of  a  world  from  eternal  ruin.  The  case  is 
this,  unless  our  religion  be  a  fable  :  Man- 
kind are  in  perishing  circumstances  ;  an 
enemy  is  among  them  of  such  amazing 
malignity  and  power,  that  he  accomplishes 
their  everlasting  destruction  at  the  rate  of 
twenty  millions  a  year.  Christianity  is  an 
influence  which  can  overcome  this  enemy, 
and  Christians  undertake  to  apply  this  in- 
fluence. I  simply  ask,  are  they  serious  in 
the  undertaking.  I  make  the  appeal  to 
you,  whether  if  they  are  so,  they  can,  with 
any  propriety,  or  can  at  all,  wish  to  engage 
the  attention  of  mankind  to  their  sectarian 
differences  and  disputes  ?  The  adversary 
can  be  defeated,  men  can  be  saved,  with- 
out doing  this  ;  and  till  men  are  saved, 
3* 


26  THOUGHTS   ON 

how  can  those  who  are  seriously  seeking 
their  salvation,  do  any  thing  to  occupy 
them,  or  wish  to  see  them  occupied  about 
things  which  do  not  accompany  salvation 
or  tend  to  secure  it  ?  The  perishing  world 
are  in  no  circumstances  to  enter  into  the 
doubtful  disputations  of  the  Christian 
sects  ;  they  are  not  likely  to  be  benefitted, 
and  may  be  fatally  injured  by  giving 
thought  to  these  matters  ;  their  tendency 
especially  upon  worldly  minds,  is  to  divert 
attention  from  the  concerns  of  the  soul  ; 
and  to  endeavour  to  persuade  the  world  to 
embrace  this  or  that  side  of  these  vexed 
questions,  is  more  irrelevant  and  improper, 
than  would  be  a  debate  about  some  matter 
of  taste  in  literature  or  the  arts,  with  per- 
sons whom  we  were  endeavouring  to  rescue 
from  the  waves  or  the  fire.  This  is  my 
first  argument  for  limiting  the  zeal  of 
Christians  in  their  efforts  to  evangelize 


EVANGELIZING   THE   WORLD.  2*7 

mankind  to  the  propagation  of  substantial 
Christianity.  It  is,  that  there  is  compa- 
ratively no  importance,  in  points  of  secta- 
rian strife  and  division,  no  importance 
whatever  relatively  to  the  high  end  pursued, 
the  recovery  of  immortal  beings  perishing 
in  sin ;  and  that  seriousness  in  seeking 
this  end,  is  incompatible  with  being  occu- 
pied ourselves,  or  wishing  to  occupy  oth- 
ers about  matters,  which  instead  of  promot- 
ing may  defeat  it.  I  do  not  say  that  it  is 
absolutely  of  no  importance  what  side  be 
right  or  what  side  wrong  in  sectarian 
•controversies,  but  that  the  importance  is 
small,  comparatively  ;  and  that  to  seek  to 
enlist  the  world,  whether  on  this  or  that  of 
these  contending  sides,  is  not  the  way  to 
save  them  from  the  infinite  ruin  which  is 
impending  over  them.  If  all  men  were 
already  saved,  I  will  not  say  what  might 
;be  done,  if  charitably  and  peaceably  done, 


28  THOUGHTS   ON 

in  respect  to  disputable  points  ;  but  if  the 
world  be  as  all  Christians  hold  it  to  be,  in 
sin  and  under  wrath, — if  graceless  men 
pass  into  endless  wo,  as  fast  as  they  pass 
away  from  the  earth,  they  should,  unques- 
tionably, have  nothing  to  do,  in  their  pre- 
sent circumstances,  with  points  of  doubtful 
disputation  ;  and  Christians  should  not, 
while  professedly  aiming  at  their  salva- 
tion, make  these  points  any  part  of  the 
subject-matter  of  their  teaching  and  en- 
forcements. This  is  the  argument,  and  I 
think  it  must  commend  itself  to  the  com- 
mon-sense of  my  hearers,  so  long  as  it 
shall  be  admitted  that  the  world  is  in  a 
perishing  state,  and  that  the  end  of  evan- 
gelizing is  to  convert  and  save  it.  Till 
then,  whatever  zeal  may  be  shown  in  pro- 
pagating sectarian  peculiarities,  will,  I  can- 
not but  think,  appear  to  all,  who,  in  this 
matter,  have  their  senses  exercised  to  dis- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  29 

cover  what  is  congruous  and  proper,  as  out 
of  time,  out  of  place,  misdirected,  mis- 
spent. 

2.  Another  reason  why  we  should  not 
seek  to  propagate  sectarianism  among 
mankind  is,  that  there  ought  to  be  none 
among  ourselves.  For  if  there  ought  to 
be  none  among  Christians,  there  ought 
certainly  to  be  none  in  the  world,  and  if 
there  ought  to  be  none  in  the  world,  Chris- 
tians should  not  endeavour  to  propagate  it. 
The  fact  here  asserted,  however,  will 
probably  be  assented  to  by  some,  who  will 
yet  think  it,  as  an  argument  to  my  pur- 
pose, inconclusive  ;  because,  as  they  may 
allege,  the  same  reason  why  there  ought 
to  be  no  sectarianism  among  Christians, 
demands  that  there  be  no  differences,  no 
sin  among  them ;  thus  running  up  the  argu- 
ment, and  so  destroying  it,  into  a  perfec- 
tionism, which,  it  is  supposed,  is  never  to 


30  THOUGHTS    ON 

have  place  on  earth.  But  they  mistake 
what  is  meant  by  the  assertion  :  I  mean 
that  there  ought  to  be  no  sectarianism 
among  Christians,  notwithstanding  their 
differences.  Let  them,  if  need  be,  have 
their  differences,  but  let  not  their  differen- 
ces develope  themselves  in  sectarian  divi- 
sions and  parties.  I  fear  this  is  an  obser- 
vation which  some  will  be  disposed  to  re- 
solve into  a  visionary  cast  of  mind,  but  I 
must  beg  them  not  to  disparage  their  own 
claims  to  superior  judgment,  by  discarding 
it,  before  they  have  dispassionately  reflect- 
ed upon  it.  My  position  is  that  there 
ought  to  be  no  sectarian  divisions  among 
Christians  on  account  of  differences 
among  themselves.  It  matters  not  what 
the  differences  may  be,  they  cannot  justify 
their  going  off  from  one  another,  and  form- 
ing distinct  sects,  and  taking  sectarian  de- 
nominations on  the  principle  of  agreement 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  31 

in  differences,  and  thenceforth  admitting 
none  within  their  respective  denomina- 
tional pales,  however  Christian,  who  do 
not  adopt  their  distinctive  peculiarities  ; 
and  thus  keeping  themselves  apart  from 
their  brethren,  and  as  things  are  in  this 
world,  making  rivalry  and  contention 
among  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
certain  and  unavoidable.  There  is,  I 
aver  before  heaven  and  earth,  no  justifica- 
tion of  things  like  these,  and  no  one  should 
on  any  ground  attempt  to  justify  them. 
No  matter,  I  repeat,  what  the  differences 
may  be,  the  fact  that  they  are  differences 
among  Christians  is  decisive,  that  they 
form  no  sufficient  basis  for  sectarianism. 
They  are  differences  among  persons  who 
agree  in  such  and  so  many  respects,  that 
to  divide  on  the  ground  of  differences,  is 
so  unnecessary,  so  unnatural,  that  I  can 
think  of  nothing  which,  in  these  respects, 


32  THOUGHTS   ON 

can  be  compared  to  it.  It  is  worse  than 
if  a  man  should  part  from  a  friend,  dearer 
to  him  than  life,  simply  because  of  some 
almost  imperceptible  dissonance  in  the 
tone  of  his  voice.  It  is,  according  to  an 
inspired  illustration,  as  if  the  members  of 
the  body,  the  feet  and  hands,  should  fall 
into  schismatical  strife,  because  they  hold 
not  the  same  place  in  the  system.  There 
are  those,  I  am  aware,  who  would  smile 
at  these  statements  ;  but  I  must  think 
they  would  be  less  disposed  to  do  soT  if 
their  spiritual  sympathies  were  purer,  live- 
lier, and  more  intelligent.  If  they  had  but 
a  just  sense  of  the  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance of  those  things  in  which  all  Chris- 
tians agree  with  each  other,  and  with 
Christ  and  his  kingdom,  they  would  ex- 
change their  pity  at  my  earnestness  against 
sectarian  division,  for  wonder  and  grief 
that  the  thought  of  sectarianism  was  ever 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  33 

indulged.  I  cannot  now  dwell  upon  these 
great  points  of  union  ;  I  have  no  time  even 
to  state  them  ;  but  if  I  had  an  angel's 
tongue  I  could  not  set  them  forth  in  their 
full  greatness,  beauty,  and  excellence.  Let 
me  only  say  that  it  is  losing  sight  of  these 
points,  it  is  treating  them  as  if  they  were 
nothing,  to  regard  any  points  of  difference 
as  cause  for  sectarian  separations. 

It  has  been  said,  however,  that  unjusti- 
fiable as  sectarianism  may  be,  better  have 
it,  than  that  Christians  should  remain  to- 
gether, feeling  as  they  do,  in  respect  to 
their  differences.  Nay,  it  has  even  been 
urged  that  sectarianism  is  on  the  whole, 
gain  to  Christianity.  But  did  Christ  think 
so,  when  he  made  unity  among  his  disci- 
ples the  badge  and  evidence  to  the  world, 
of  their  union  to  himself;*    the  means 


34  THOUGHTS    ON 

by  which  the  world  is  to  be  convinced  that 
Christianity  is  true  ;*  the  main  subject — 
matter  of  the  prayer!  which  he  poured 
forth  from  his  heart  of  love  in  behalf  of  all 
who  should  ever  bear  his  name,  just  before 
his  passion  ?  Did  Paul  think  so  when  he 
likened  division  among  Christians,  to  a 
war  between  the  members  of  the  same  hu- 
man frame;  |  and  demanded  of  the  church 
of  Corinth,  if  they  were  not  carnal  and  did 
not  walk  as  men,  because  there  were  divi- 
sions among  them  ;  and  said  to  the  parti- 
zans  in  that  church,  is  Christ  divided  1  and 
to  the  party  that  would  be  called  by  his 
own  name,  was  Paul  crucified  for  you  ?  or 
were  ye  baptized  in  the  name  of  PauH|| 
and  besought  the  church  of  Rome§  to 
mark  them  who  caused  divisions  and  of- 
fences, and  avoid  them,  as  being  persons 

*  John   xvii.    21       J  John    xvii.    $  Rom.  xii.  25.    ||  1  Cor.   i.    13. 
\  Rom.  xvi.  17,  18. 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  35 

who  served  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but 
their  own  belly  1  Did  another  holy  Apos- 
tle think  so,  when  he  spoke  of  those  who 
separate  themselves  as  sensual,  not  having 
the  spirit  ?*  Is  it  from  the  scriptures  that 
the  doctrine  is  derived,  that  sectarian  divi- 
sions are  gainful  to  Christianity  ?  It  is,  my 
hearers,  if  sensuality,  and  the  loss  of  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit's  presence,  and  what  the  Apostles 
and  Christ  thought  the  supreme  reproach 
of  the  Church,  be  gainful.  Let  the  thing 
be  mentioned,  if  it  can  be,  from  which 
scripture  leads  us  to  fear  as  great  harm  to 
Christianity.  Can  it  be  the  sober  judg- 
ment of  any  one  that  it  is  better  to  have 
sectarianism  than  not  to  have  it  ?  I  can- 
not believe  this.  There  is  one  thing  worse 
than  sectarianism.  It  is  better  to  have 
sectarianism    than    no  Christianity ;    but 


36  THOUGHTS    ON 

not  better  than  to  have  no  sectarianism. 
It  is  not  better  in  other  words,  to  have 
Christianity  with  sects,  than  Christianity 
without  them.  It  is  not  better,  and  no  one 
I  am  persuaded  can  think  it  better.  No,  if 
such  a  state  of  things  might  be  once  again 
in  the  earth,  as  Christianity  and  no  secta- 
rian names  and  parties,  there  is  no  true 
Christian  who  would  not  long  for  the  dawn 
of  the  happy  day  when  it  should  be  seen. 
While  sectarianism  remains,  God,  who  has 
determined  that  the  Gospel  shall  ultimate- 
ly triumph,  restrains  its  evil  tendencies  ; 
but  still  it  is  an  evil  at  whose  abolishment 
heaven  and  earth  would  have  occasion  to 
keep  jubilee  a  thousand  years.  Sectari- 
anism ought,  at  this  moment,  to  have  no 
place  :  and  the  Feeling  which  gives  rise  to 
it,  ought  to  have  none.  Christians  ought 
not  to  feel  as  they  do  in  view  of  their  dif- 
ferences among  themselves.     I  will  not 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  37 

name  this  feeling  extravagant,  it  is  in  a  just 
of  view  of  things  altogether  groundless  : 
nor  could  it  have  existence,  but  from  a 
state  of  heart  which  makes  great  and  little 
to  change  natures  ;  and  which  indulged, 
leads  to  absolute  moral  blindness.  It 
is  carnal,  sensual,  criminal  feeling;  it 
ought  not  to  be  indulged,  but  rebuked, 
repented  of,  and  corrected  ;  or  if  it  prove 
intractable,  the  evidence  of  its  evil  and 
pernicious  nature  ought  to  be  proclaimed 
and  dwelt  upon  ;  and  all  who  have  not 
fallen  under  its  infatuating  power,  ought  to 
keep  up  constant  lamentation  and  regrets. 
It  ought  no  more  to  be  indulged,  than  en- 
vy, or  wrath,  or  malice,  or  lust,  or  covet- 
ousness,  or  any  other  bad  feeling  of  the 
heart.  There  ought,  I  repeat,  to  be  no 
such  thing  as  sectarianism  among  Chris- 
tians, and  this  sentiment  should  be  hence- 
forth, and  in  every  appropriate  way,  incul- 
4* 


OO  THOUGHTS    ON 

cated  in  all  the  churches  until  it  comes  to 
be  thought  heresy  and  schism,  not  to  be- 
lieve and  practically  acknowledge  it. 

This  is  the  second  argument  against  the 
propagation  of  sectarian  Christianity.  It 
is  an  argument  which  none  can  misunder- 
stand, and  none,  I  presume,  will  attempt  to 
resist  it. 

3.  The  third  and  last  is,  that  the  world 
cannot  be  evangelized  by  the  propagation 
of  sectarianism.  It  will  ever  be  fatal  to 
the  success  of  the  undertaking.  This  I 
think,  every  one  must  be  convinced  of, 
who  will  consider  the  matter  either  in  the 
light  of  scripture,  or  his  own  common- 
sense.  As  to  scripture-testimony,  I  will 
only  observe  that  the  zeal  of  our  Lord  and 
his  Apostles  against  divisions,  manifestly 
has  this  for  its  great  argument,  that  the 
success  of  the  Christian  cause  demands 
that  as  to  divisions  there  be  none.     As  to 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  39 

the  verdict  of  common-sense,  let  any  one 
call  to  mind  how  things  are  in  Christen- 
dom, and  how  they  have  been  since  it  was 
split  into  contending  divisions  and  parties  ; 
let  him  remember  the  bitter  animosities, 
the  reciprocal  exclusions  and  anathemas,  the 
altars  against  altars,  the  preaching  against 
preaching,  the  systems  against  systems  ; 
let  him  remember  how  the  labours  of  the 
different  sects  have  always  been  crossing 
and  checking,  and  neutralizing  one  ano- 
ther ;  and  how,  in  consequence,  Christen- 
dom itself  has  been  an  almost  perpetual 
desolation,  and  is  so  at  the  present  day  ; 
and  how  the  world,  instead  of  yielding  to 
the  power,  or  even  confessing  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  have  hardened  themselves  in 
a  contemptuous  and  scornful  infidelity,  by 
observing  how  Christians  deny  their  own 
principles  in  their  dealings  with  Christians 
as  well  as  with  themselves  ;  let  any  one, 


40  THOUGHTS    ON 

I  say,  seriously  consider  these  fruits  of 
sectarianism  in  Christendom,  and  then 
believe  if  he  can,  that  either  Christendom 
or  the  heathen  nations,  will  ever  be  truly 
evangelized  by  the  propagation  of  secta- 
rian Christianity.  Will  the  tree  which 
has  been  bringing  forth  these  poisonous 
fruits  in  Christian  lands,  bring  forth  better 
ones  by  being  transplanted  into  the  wild 
soil  of  heathenism.  No,  it  is  a  manifest 
certainty,  and  it  ought  to  be  held  as  an 
axiom  by  all  Christians,  that  Christianity 
to  be  triumphant  in  this  world,  must  go 
forth,  not  with  her  robes  torn  and  defiled, 
her  visage  marred,  her  strength  exhaust- 
ed, by  sectarian  violence  and  abuse,  but 
in  her  own  native  unity,  simplicity,  and 
beauty.  Such  is  Christianity  now,  as  held 
by  all  true  Christians  in  common ;  the 
same  simple,  peaceful,  consistent,  dig- 
nified  daughter  of  the  skies,  as  at  first ; 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD  41 

such,  then,  by  general  consent,  let  her  go 
forth,  and  let  every  one  who  bears  her 
high  name,  lay  aside,  as  far  as  may  be 
needful,  his  other  name,  imposed  by  a 
sect,  and  join  in  the  enterprise  of  giving 
her,  in  her  pristine  integrity  and  simplicity, 
the  empire  of  the  universe.  Thus,  most 
certainly,  must  she  triumph,  if  she  tri- 
umph at  all. 

II.  So  high  and  unassailable  are  the 
proofs  of  our  first  proposition  ;  but  not 
less  so  are  those  of  the  second.  It  is  as 
evident  that  there  should  be  no  sectarian- 
ism in  our  plans  and  measures  for  propagat- 
ing the  gospel,  as  that  there  should  be  none 
in  our  aim  and  object.  Our  plans,  it  was 
said,  should  be  such  as  to  admit  the  coali- 
tion of  all  Christians,  whatever  may  be 
their  sectarian  names  and  opinions. 

This  is  a  doctrine,  I  know,  which  since 


42  THOUGHTS    ON 

the  corruption  and  dismemberment  of  the 
Church,  has  found  little  favour,  practically, 
in  Christendom ;  but  it  is  still  most  mani- 
festly true  and  Christian  doctrine,  and  was 
held  and  inculcated  by  the  Apostles,  and 
with  the  primitive  church,  in  their  trium- 
phant efforts  to  spread  the  gospel,  it  had 
controlling  influence  ;  and  objections  to  it 
do  but  show,  how  mighty  is  the  spirit  of 
sect  to  blind  and  infatuate  the  heart,  and 
are  objections,  to  a  return  to  the  spirit  and 
practice  of  the  primitive  times — to  obey 
the  requisitions  of  scripture  and  of  con- 
science. I  feel  myself  compelled  to  insist 
on  the  adoption  of  this  doctrine,  as  of  vital 
importance.  It  must  be  adopted.  The 
necessity  of  its  adoption  is  as  manifest  as 
the  absurdity  of  attempting  to  convert  the 
world  by  propagating  the  bigotry,  contradic- 
tions, and  angry  animosities  of  sectarian- 
ism.   Without  controversy,  it  must  and  will 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  43 

be  adopted,  before  the  gospel  achieves  its 
destined  victory  over  the  world.  That 
victory  will  be  won  by  anti-sectarian  Chris- 
tianity, propagated  by  anti-sectarian  mea- 
sures of  evangelism. 

That  the  measures  as  well  as  the  reli- 
gion, must  be  anti-sectarian,  is  as  obvious 
as  that  means  used  to  accomplish  a  result 
should  not  in  their  own  nature  and  ten- 
dency be  adapted  to  defeat  that  result. 
Employing  sectarian  measures  to  promote 
an  anti-sectarian  object,  is  like  raising  the 
wind  to  still  the  waves,  or  pouring  oil 
upon  flames  in  order  to  quench  them.  It 
is  cherishing  sectarianism  in  one  place, 
while  professedly  desiring  and  aiming  to 
destroy  it  in  another.  It  is  filling  the 
fountain  in  order  to  dry  up  the  streams. 
It  supposes  that  Satan  is  divided  against 
himself;  it  is  setting  Satan  to  cast  out 
Satan. 


44  THOUGHTS   ON 

It  is  strange,  passing  strange,  that  our 
plans  should  be  sectarian  if  our  object  be 
not  so.  With  what  show  of  consistency 
can  we  adopt  such  plans  ?  Consistency 
is  manifestly  disowned  by  adopting  them. 
I  appeal  to  you,  whether  this  be  not 
the  fact.  Believing  that  importance  be- 
longs to  what  we  hold  in  common  with  all 
Christians,  and  that  there  is,  compara- 
tively, no  importance  in  what  separates 
Christians  from  one  another,  and  that  the 
state  of  the  world  demands  that  we  let  un- 
important matters  alone  in  endeavouring  to 
propagate  our  religion,  and  bestow  our 
pains  on  the  great  things  in  which  we  are 
all  united  ;  thus  believing,  we  professedly 
engage  in  the  work  of  spreading  the  com- 
mon salvation.  We  avow  as  our  object 
the  advancement  of  nothing  peculiar  to 
ourselves  as  sectarians,  but  of  what  no 
more  concerns   our   own   distinctive   de- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  45 

nomination,  than  all  of  every  name  and 
sect  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ : 
and  yet  we  adopt  measures  and  plans  of 
procedure  in  which  none  can  join  us  with- 
out embracing  our  own  denominational 
singularities.  Is  this  to  be  consistent? 
We  say  to  all  Christians,  we  will  not  work 
with  you,  and  you  shall  not  work  with  us, 
unless  you  are  baptized  as  we  have  been, 
and  submit  to  our  modes  of  discipline,  and 
adopt  our  peculiar  creed,  and  subject  your 
charities  and  labours  to  our  supervision  and 
disposal ;  while  our  ostensible  design  is  to 
advance,  not  our  own  cause  by  any  means, 
but  a  cause  in  which  every  denomina- 
tion's interest  is  as  vital  as  ours — the  Com- 
mon Cause  of  all  denominations,  of  all 
saints  in  heaven  and  earth,  of  Christ  and 
his  universal  Church !  Such  is  the  glaring 
inconsistency  of  Catholicism  in  object,  and 

sectarianism  in  spirit  and  proceedings. 
5 


46  THOUGHTS    ON 

And  what  reason  is  there  why  we  should 
repudiate  consistency  by  retaining  secta- 
rianism in  our  measures  1  Do  we  not  by 
so  doing  disparage  all  our  pretensions  to 
liberality  ?  The  sect  which  pursues  such 
a  course  will  never,  can  never  be  believed 
in  its  catholic  professions  :  no,  it  will  and 
ought  to  be  distrusted  :  it  will  be  regarded 
as  after  all  having  sectarian  ends  ;  and 
before  God  and  man,  it  will  display  a  sec- 
tarian banner,  and  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, be  most  devotedly  sectarian,  both  in 
plan  and  in  object. 

But  if  sectarianism  in  our  plans  were 
not  incompatible  with  the  absence  of  it 
from  our  object,  still  it  should  have  no 
place  in  the  former,  provided  it  really 
have  none  in  the  latter.  No,  if  it  were 
possible  by  sectarian  modes  of  action 
to  favour  the  propagation  anti-sectarian 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  47 

Christianity,  such  modes  should  not  be 
used.  All  sectarianism,  as  I  have  shewn, 
ought  to  be  forthwith  renounced,  and  to 
disappear  out  of  the  world.  It  is  the  great 
scandal  of  our  religion,  which  all  Chris- 
tians should  combine  to  abolish.  But  this 
is  not  done  by  those  who  put  their  modes 
and  plans  of  effort  under  the  exclusive 
control  and  dictation  of  the  spirit  of  sect. 
If  they  oppose  sectarianism  in  one  way, 
they  promote  and  build  it  up  in  another.  In 
short,  nothing  can  be  plainer,  than  that  the 
proof  of  our  first  proposition  is  virtually 
the  proof  also  of  that  which  is  now  before 
us.  Admit  that  our  object  should  be  to 
propagate  substantial  Christianity,  and  it 
is  at  the  same  time  admitted  that  we 
should  have  no  sectarianism  in  our  plans 
and  measures  of  evangelization. 

If  it  should  be  thought  that  our  respec- 
tive denominations  have  claims  upon  us, 


48  THOUGHTS    ON 

which  interfere  with  our  uniting,  in  unsec- 
tarian  plans  and  societies,  with  other 
Christians,  I  have  only  to  request  that  this 
assumption  may  for  one  moment  be  look- 
ed at  with  a  candid  eye.  It  will  not  bear 
such  an  inspection.  It  will  be  found  at 
once  to  be  the  very  strong-hold  of  secta- 
rianism. It  is  an  error,  a  manifest  and 
palpable  error.  As  the  Church  of  Christ 
now  is  upon  the  earth,  no  one  can  visibly 
join  the  Church,  which  it  is  certainly  each 
person's  duty  to  do,  without  associating  him- 
self with  some  one  of  the  Christian  sects  ; 
but  when  he  joins  a  sect,  he  joins,  and  if 
his  views  be  just,  intends  to  join  the  great 
brotherhood  of  Christians,  the  divinely 
compacted,  indissoluble  body  of  Christ. 
From  conviction,  from  education,  from  do- 
mestic relationship,  from  local  conven- 
ience, or  from  undefinable  feeling,  he  may 
be  inclined  to  connect  himself  with  one 


EVANGELIZING   THE   WORLD.  49 

denomination,  rather  than  another  ;  but 
what  mainly  leads  him  to  seek  admission 
into  a  particular  church,  is  what  consti- 
tutes him  a  Christian,  the  one  spirit  which 
pervades  the  whole  family  of  God  in  heav- 
en and  earth  ;  and  the  tie  which  binds  him 
to  his  chosen  sect,  is  as  the  spider's  most 
attenuated  thread,  is  less  than  nothing, 
compared  to  those  everlasting  bonds  which 
make  him  and  his  Saviour,  and  all  Chris- 
tians, through  time  and  eternity,  one.  It 
is  to  the  cause  of  his  Saviour  that  he  con- 
secrates himself,  not  to  the  cause  of  his 
sect.  There  is  no  covenant,  no  agree- 
ment, no  understanding  to  the  contrary  of 
this.  He  binds  himself  indeed  to  seek 
the  peace  and  edification  of  his  brethren, 
and  to  be  obedient,  in  the  Lord,  to  their 
usages  and  requisitions  ;  but  he  does  not 
bind  himself,  in  any  respect,  or  instance, 

or  manner  whatsoever,  to  walk  contrary 

5* 


50  THOUGHTS    ON 

to  the  infinitely  higher  laws  and  demands 
of  that  great  relation  which  he  bears  to 
the  universal  Church.  The  sect  which 
he  joins  has  itself  no  right  to  go  contrary 
to,  or  disregard  these  demands  ;  and  can 
hardly  do  so  without  violating  its  title  to 
the  Christian  name.  If  then  a  case  should 
arise,  in  which  the  interests  of  the  general 
cause  of  Christ,  require  an  anti-sectarian 
movement,  concurrence  in  such  a  move- 
ment is  binding  upon  the  sect  and  every 
individual  belonging  to  it.  But  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Christian  cause,  demand,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  very  non-existence  of  sec- 
tarianism. The  conclusion  is,  and — unless 
we  are  ready  to  confess  ourselves  so  in 
love  with  the  spirit  of  sect,  as  for  the  sake 
of  it  to  fall  out  with  reason — let  us  not  resist 
this  most  logical  conclusion,  that  every 
sect  and  every  Christian  on  earth,  is  bound 
to  concur  in  appropriate  movements  for 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  51 

the  abolition  of  sectarianism  ;  and  it  were 
well,  it  were  cause  for  unspeakable  joy, 
if  every  Christian  should  henceforth 
to  the  end  of  his  days,  give  to  such 
movements  the  complete  devotion  of  his 
heart  and  strength.  When  a  sect  charges 
its  members  with  unfaithfulness,  because 
they  are  unsectarian  in  their  associations 
and  plans  for  spreading  the  gospel,  it 
imputes  to  them  as  a  fault,  what  it  should 
praise  as  a  rare  excellence,  and  univer- 
sally imitate. 

There  is,  assuredly,  no  good,  no  suffi- 
cient reason  for  opposing  anti-sectarian 
modes  of  effort.  They  are  proper  modes, 
and  the  only  proper  ones.  Without  a 
continued  series  of  miracles,  the  end  pur- 
sued is  attainable  by  no  other  means. 
I  pray  that  it  may  be  inquired  into  and 
decided  by  all  sects  of  Christians,  wheth- 
er I  have  not  now  uttered  the  truth.     I  ad- 


52  THOUGHTS   ON 

dress  myself  to  the  common-sense  of 
mankind,  and  ask  before  the  face  of  the 
world,  if  it  be  not  a  manifest  certainty,  that 
there  is  no  cause  to  hope  for  the  general 
triumph  of  the  gospel,  from  sectarian 
plans  for  its  advancement.  I  make  the 
same  appeal  to  the  scriptures.  Their 
voice,  in  perfect  consonance  with  that  of 
our  own  common-sense,  gives  authorita- 
tively and  strongly,  a  negative  answer  : 
such  an  answer  comes  as  in  accents  of 
thunder,  from  the  recorded  charges,  re- 
monstrances and  prayers  of  Christ  and  his 
apostles  against  sectarian  separations. 
With  perfect  confidence,  I  should  antici- 
pate the  same  answer  from  all  the  sects 
themselves,  if  they  would  give  their  delib- 
erate decision  on  the  point.  It  is  then 
settled  and  agreed  to,  that  measures  per- 
vaded and  regulated  by  the  spirit  of  sect, 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  53 

are  not  appropriate  and  will  not  be   suc- 
cessful. 

Nevertheless,  sectarian  movements  re- 
main. They  remain,  and  by  some  are 
most  zealously  contended  for  and  promot- 
ed, as  exclusively  deserving  of  patronage. 
Will  there  ever  be  a  limit  to  human  incon- 
sistency ?  And  on  what  pretext  think 
you,  is  this  marvellous  inconsistency 
maintained  ?  On  the  no  less  marvellous 
pretext,  that  the  time  for  ceasing  from  sec- 
tarianism has  not  arrived.  Sectarianism, 
it  is  conceded,  is  wrong  and  undesirable, 
and  must  cease  before  the  restraints  which 
hinder  the  diffusion  of  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity are  removed,  and  will  one  day 
cease  ;  but  the  time  is  not  yet  come.  I 
wish  it  to  be  pondered,  that  this  is  the  ar- 
gument and  the  only  argument  for  the 
continuance  of  the  sectarian  establish- 
ments and  operations  of  these  times.     An 


54 


THOUGHTS    ON 


argument  advanced,  most  surely,  through 
inadvertence.  As  if  a  state  of  things 
which  is  certainly  to  come,  and  to  come  by 
the  use  of  means  suited  to  produce  it,  and 
for  which  the  church  and  the  whole  crea- 
tion are  sighing  and  languishing,  might  all 
the  while  previously  to  its  occurrence,  be, 
of  set  plan  and  purpose,  justifiably  oppos- 
ed and  contended  against !  Let  Chris- 
tians generally  fall  in  with  the  measures  of 
sectarianism,  and  when  think  you  will  the 
time  come  for  its  abolition  ?  Most  cer- 
tainly never,  while  they  continue  to  do  so. 
Wherefore,  I  beseech  you,  as  you  de- 
sire to  see  the  end  of  the  Church's  re- 
proachful divisions  and  the  bright  day  of 
her  triumph,  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
any  sectarian  plans  for  evangelizing  men. 
I  address  this  entreaty  to  you  as  individuals ; 
my  object  is  to  pursuade  you,  one  by  one, 
each  man  for  himself,  to  renounce  perfect- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  55 

ly  the  spirit  of  sect  in  efforts  and  associa- 
tions for  the  spread  of  Christianity.  And 
I  do  this,  from  the  full  persuasion,  that 
the  individual  non-concurrence  of  Chris- 
tians in  sectarian  measures,  is  the  way  and 
the  only  way  in  which  these  measures  and 
their  object  can  be  brought  to  an  end. 
There  is  no  hope  that  the  sects  as  such, 
will  formally  resolve  against  sectarian  ac- 
tion, or  think  the  time  come  for  ceasing 
from  it,  until  it  is  actually  ceased  from  by 
a  decided  and  manifest  majority  of  the  in- 
dividuals composing  them.  No  ;  they 
will  as  long  as  possible,  and  by  every 
means  which  the  party  feeling  that  per- 
vades them  can  invent,  perpetuate  and 
defend  such  action.  Nor  is  it  by  seces- 
sions, and  new  organizations  on  professed 
anti-sectarian  principles,  that  the  evil  is  to 
be  destroyed.  To  withdraw  from  a  sect, 
admitting  it  to  be  composed  of  Christians, 


56  THOUGHTS    ON 

is  essentially  the  same  thing  with  sectari- 
anism itself ;  it  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  the 
very  sin  of  schism.  There  is  however 
one  way,  and  as  far  as  I  can  see,  but 
one,  in  which  the  great  object  of  desire 
may  be  accomplished  ;  that  way  has  been 
mentioned;  it  is  by  each  individual  Chris- 
tian's repenting  apart  of  his  past  secta- 
rianism and  having  no  more  to  do  with 
it,  in  any  manner  or  instance  whatever, 
the  rest  of  his  life.  This  is  the  way, 
and  it  is  a  sure  and  easy  way  to  bring 
sectarianism  to  an  end.  In  this  way  the 
abolition  of  the  evil  might  be  accomplish- 
ed at  once,  and  accomplished  quietly  and 
happily.  In  this  way,  it  is  most  cheering 
to  remark,  its  abolition  is  already  in  pro- 
gress. That  it  is  so,  is  the  chief  glory  of 
the  age.  If  I  were  asked  to  designate  what 
I  regard  as  the  fairest  of  the  signs  of  these 
times,  I  should  mention  this.     Christians 


EVANGELIZING    THE   WORLD.  57 

of  all  sects,  beginning  to  feel  the  power 
of  those  eternal  bonds  which  bind  them 
together  and  make  them  one  in  Christ, 
and  the  weakness  of  the  causes,  which  have 
kept  them  apart,  are  associating  in  plans 
for  evangelizing  mankind,  on  the  broad 
principles  of  their  common  faith ;  and 
God  is  manifestly  with  them  in  these  holy 
associations ;  and  every  day,  their  numbers 
their  resources  and  their  successes  are 
augmenting.  And  notwithstanding  some 
recent  indications  that  a  spirit  of  opposi- 
tion is  rising  up,  I  cannot  think  it  possible 
effectually  to  resist  the  anti-sectarian  im- 
pulse of  these  associations.  No,  the 
strength  of  God,  I  doubt  not,  is  in  it ;  the 
day  of  the  latter  glory  of  the  gospel  is 
dawning  :  the  time  of  the  abolition  of  sects 
and  sectarianism,  if  not  come,  is  nigh  at 
hand  :  happy  is  every  one  who,  by  appro- 
6 


58  THOUGHTS    ON 

priate  prayer  and  effort,  aims  to  accelerate 
its  progress. 

III.  I  proceed  to  the  consideration  of 
the  third  principle  by  which  the  conduct 
of  the  enterprise  should  be  governed  :  It 
is,  to  evade  as  far  as  possible,  that  is,  as 
far  as  may  be  done  consistently  with  faith- 
fulness in  pursuing  the  great  object,  all 
opposition  from  the  world. 

This  principle,  thus  explained,  will  not, 
I  presume,  be  controverted ;  since  the 
question,  how  far  faithfulness  in  carrying 
on  the  work  may  consist  with  efforts  to 
evade  adverse  consenuences,  is  left  unde- 
cided. Some  indeed  seem  to  hold  that 
faithfulness  is  incompatible  with  all  re- 
spect to  such  consequences,  and  will  not 
even  admit  a  question  on  this  point ;  but  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  even  these  per- 
sons, clearly  and  seriously  apprehending 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  59 

the  real  matter,  would  probably   decline 
gainsaying  it.       Much  of  the  discourse 
which  has  of  late  been  held  in  the  press 
and  in  the  pulpit,  against  expediency,  mis- 
names, as  it  seems  to  me,  the  object  of  its 
denunciation.       That    object,  is  in   fact, 
carnal  policy,  a  selfish  time-serving  man- 
agement, a  most  unchristian  and  unprin- 
cipled thing  truly,  which   deserves  to  be 
universally  denounced  ;  but  why  should  it 
be  identified  with  expediency  ]     Expedi- 
ency, in  the  just  sense   of  the  word,  is  a 
very  different,  and,  common  as  it  has  be- 
come to   speak  against  it,  I  must  say,  a 
very  good  thing.     Nay,  what  is  expedient, 
is  what  on  the  whole  is  for  the  best ;  and, 
what  is  for  the  best,  i  s  best;  and  virtue 
and  the  law  of  God,   of  course,   demand 
that  it  be  pursued.     It  can  be  consistently 
denounced  or  stigmatized,  surely,  by  none 
but  malevolent  persons.     Will  it  be  said 


60 


THOUGHTS    ON 


that  what  is  for  the  best  in  the  present 
case,  is  already  ascertained  to  be,  to  pay 
no  regard  to  consequences  ;  so  that  we 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  of 
expediency  ;  and  that  to  consult  expedi- 
ency, now  that  what  is  for  the  best  is 
known,  is  indeed  one  with  consulting  with 
flesh  and  blood  1  This,  I  answer,  rests 
upon  an  assumption,  which  manifestly 
leads  to  all  the  extravagancies  and  mis- 
chiefs of  fanaticism.  The  assumption  is 
that  we  already  know  that  what  is  for 
the  best  in  efforts  to  evangelize  mankind, 
is  to  pay  no  regard  to  the  consequences 
of  our  measures  ;  not  even  to  ask  the 
question,  whether  they  will  be  likely  to  ex- 
cite opposition  or  not.  But  is  this  the  fact? 
Let  the  proof  of  it  be  shewn.  There  is 
no  explicit  assertion  of  it  in  scripture  ; 
nay,  both  the  examples  and  precepts  of 
Christ   and    the    apostles,    are    directly 


EVANGELIZING   THE   WORLD.  61 

against  it.  The  first  propagators  of  the 
gospel  exercised  the  most  consummate 
discretion  in  their  use  of  measures  ;  and 
they  required  their  successors  to  walk  in 
their  footsteps.  It  is  not  sufficient,  ac- 
cording to  their  teaching,  that  we  aim  at 
the  accomplishment  of  a  good  end,  and 
that  we  pursue  that  end  with  self-renounc- 
ing zeal,  and  prepare  ourselves  to  die, 
in  carrying  the  design  forward  ;  but  we 
must  take  heed  to  ourselves,  in  every  step 
and  turn  of  our  proceedings,  lest  we  do, 
say,  feel,  or  conceive  somewhat,  which 
may  not  be  wise,  or  in  itself  adapted  to 
effect  our  purpose.  I  need  not  recite  the 
places  which  make  this  extreme  care  im- 
perative upon  us.* 

Is  it   objected  that  our  Saviour  taught 
his   disciples    that   prudent  as  they  might 

*  See  Matt.  x.  16.  xvii.  27.  Rom.  xiv.  13.  1  Cor.  viii.  9—13,  ix.  12, 19-  - 
23,  x.  23,  24,  32    33.    2  Cor.  vi.  3.    1  Tim  iv.  16.    2  Tim.  ii.  24,  25. 

6* 


62  THOUGHTS   ON 

be,  the  world  would  oppose  them,  nay 
that  they  were  to  embark  in  the  work 
with  the  assured  expectation  of  encoun- 
tering the  world's  opposition  in  the  most  for- 
midable shapes  ?  I  grant  that  he  did  so  : 
But  does  this  imply  that  we  should  not 
as  far  as  in  us  lies,  endeavour  to  evade 
that  opposition  1  If  it  must  come,  may  it 
not,  on  many  accounts,  be  important,  that 
it  come  not  by  any  imprudence  or  impro- 
priety on  our  part  1  If  we  must  be  oppos- 
ed, will  it  not  be  an  advantage  to  us,  to 
be  opposed  on  account  of  wisdom  rather 
than  folly  ;  of  discretion  rather  than  rash- 
ness in  our  measures  ?  Our  Saviour  did 
assure  his  disciples,  that  the  world  would 
reproach  and  persecute  them,  but  he  gave 
them  that  assurance,  it  deserves  to  be 
considered  particularly  I  think  in  these 
times,  as  a  reason  not  for  recklessness, 
but  for  the  greatest  possible  prudence  of 


EVANGELIZING   THE    WORLD.  63 

procedure.  "Behold,"  he  said,  "I  send 
you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves !" 
What  hope,  even  of  escaping  with  life, 
in  such  circumstances  1  But  should  we 
therefore  dismiss  all  care  about  our  ways 
and  movements  1  The  very  reverse  : 
"  Be  ye  therefore  wise  as  serpents,  and 
harmless  as  doves."  There  are,  it  has 
been  remarked,*  neither  teeth,  nor  stings, 
nor  venom,  nor  wreaths  and  folds  of 
serpents  which  ought  not  to  be  known  ; 
and  our  knowledge  of  these  should  not 
be  more  perfect  than  our  measures 
in  respect  to  them,  should  be  wise  and 
judicious.  In  no  way  whatever, — nei- 
ther in  deed  nor  word  nor  look  nor 
thought,  should  we  give  just  occasion  of 
offence :  Nothing  needlessly  severe, 
nothing  rude,  nothing  ill-timed,  nothing  in 


*  By  Lord  Bacon,  as  the  reader  would  probably  have  inferred  from 
the  manner  of  the  expression. 


64  THOUGHTS    ON 

any  respect  injurious,  or  wrong,  or  un- 
lovely, or  on  any  ground  exceptionable, 
will  find  the  least  countenance,  either 
from  our  Saviour's  precept  or  practice.* 
If  we  must  become  a  prey  to  the  world's 
teeth,  let  it  be  because  of  our  innocence 
and  faithfulness  not  because  of  our  pas- 
sion and  imprudence. 

Let  me  now  mention  a  manifest  mis- 
take, which,  as  I  apprehend,  lies  at  the 
basis  of  most  of  the  unwise  movements  of 
religious  benevolence.  It  is  the  enforce- 
ment of  what  is  called  abstract  truth  or 
right,  without  due  consideration  of  the  end 
pursued.  A  prudential  regard  to  the  end  is 
not  allowed  to  shape  and  regulate  the  man- 
ner of  the  enforcement ;  but  it  is  enough 
that  what  is  enforced,  be  what,  in  abstract 


*  To  allege  in  disproof  of  this  remark,  the  sternly  reprehensive  strain 
of  our  Lord  in  Matt,  xxiii.  is  to  lose  sight  of  the  peculiar  character  both 
of  the  speaker  and  the  persons  addressed.    Boldness  may  be  wisdom. 


EVANGELIZING    THE   WORLD.  (55 

justice  and  truth,  cannot  be  found  fault 
with,  and  ought  to  obtain ;  a  principle 
of  proceeding  which,  human  nature  and 
human  society  being  what  they  are,  rests 
the  hope  of  success,  on  miracle  or  acci- 
dent, or  on  means  which  do  not  concur 
with  but  tend  to  countervail,  the  immuta- 
ble laws  of  the  moral  world.  It  ought  not 
to  be  overlooked,  that  this  mistake,  pal- 
pable as  it  is,  is  one  to  which  we  are 
specially  liable,  through  the  vehemence  of 
our  passions,  in  carrying  forward  our  en- 
terprises of  religious  zeal.  Sacred  story 
tells  us  that  two  of  the  apostles  fell  into 
this  plain  mistake.  "  Lord  wilt  thou," 
said  the  ardent  sons  of  Zebedee,  "that  we 
command  fire  to  come  down  from  heaven, 
and  consume  them,*  as  Elias  did1?" 
These  disciples,  in  their  indignation  at  the 

*  The  inhospitable  Samaritans. 


66  THOUGHTS    ON 

incivility  of  the  Samaritans,  thought  of 
nothing  but  an  instant  execution  of  what 
was  abstractly  just,  upon  these  guilty  per- 
sons. Their  Lord  corrected  them  by 
putting  them  in  mind  of  what  they  had  for 
the  moment  forgotten,  the  very  obj  ect  of  his 
appearance  in  the  world  :  "  The  son  of 
man  is  come,  not  to  destroy  men's  lives, 
but  to  save  them."  The  consideration  of 
the  end  in  this  case  was  the  lodestar  to 
what  was  judicious,  and  christian,  and  in 
every  sense  rigid,  as  to  measures.  It 
brought  the  minds  of  the  disciples  to  a 
balance,  and  showed  them  the  difference 
between  madness  and  wisdom  in  dealing 
with  men  in  order  to  win  and  convert 
them. 

Let  us  not  be  above  learning  wisdom 
in  the  same  way.  The  object  of  all 
christian  zeal,  let  us  never  forget,  is  not 
that  men  be  treated  according  to  their  de- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  67 

sert ;  or  be  convicted  of  guilt,  or  exposed 
to  reproach,  or  tormented  before  the  time, 
or  tormented  at  all,  but  that  they  be  re- 
covered to  the  paths  of  holiness  and  eter- 
nal life.  This  is  the  end,  and  all  our 
measures  of  reform  and  of  religious  be- 
nevolence, should  have  constant  respect 
to  it,  and  be  adapted  in  their  own  nature 
and  tendency  to  produce  it.  As  servants 
of  Christ  seeking  the  object  which  he 
sought  and  requires  us  to  seek,  we  have 
no  right  to  use  measures,  however  war- 
ranted by  simple  justice,  or  by  what  men 
deserve,  of  a  contrary  tendency.  Our 
measures  should  be  those  which  wisdom 
in  subservience  to  benevolence  and  mer- 
cy, not  which  naked  distributive  justice 
demands.  It  is  not  what  men  deserve, 
or  what  they  have  done,  or  are  doing,  that 
should  be  mainly  considered,  but  what  is 
suited  to  reclaim  and  save  them.  Their  guilt 


68  THOUGHTS    ON 

unquestionably  should  not  be  disregarded, 
but  as  our  object  is  not  to  expose  and  pu- 
nish their  guilt,  but  to  bless  and  save  them, 
our  measures  should  have  to  do  with  their 
guilt,  only  in  so  far  and  in  such  manner  as 
may  comport  with  the   earnest  and  wise 
pursuit  of  that  object.     It  may  be  neces- 
sary, indeed,  in  order  to  save  some  men, 
to  pursue  measures  in  respect  to  others, 
impossible,  as  the  case  is,  to  be  pursued, 
without  exasperating  and  hardening  them ; 
but  this  necessity  is   of  rare  occurrence, 
and  never  should  we  move  in  such  extra- 
ordinary cases  but  with  the  meekness  of 
wisdom  in  an  extraordinary  degree.     Our 
great  business,  we  should  ever  remember 
with  humble  and  adoring  gratitude,  is  the 
business   of  reclaiming   and  saving  men, 
not  the  awful  work  of  judgment  and  con- 
demnation. 

I  regard  this  principle,  the  due  conside- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  69 

ration  and  observance  of  the  end,  as  the 
summary  of  truth  and  wisdom  in  respect 
to  methods  of  procedure  in  carrying  on  our 
great  work.  Steadfastly  followed  it  would 
have  prevented  mistakes,  and  a  recurrence 
to  it  will  cure  them.  Let  us  but  first  dis- 
cipline our  minds  to  candour  and  docility, 
and  well  consider  what  is  to  be  done,  and 
the  ways  and  means  of  doing  it  will  natu- 
rally suggest  themselves.  We  shall  almost 
intuitively  see,  both  the  measures  proper 
to  be  used  and  the  proper  manner  of  using 
them.  We  shall  need  no  other  directory. 
Better,  as  a  guide  in  the  way  of  practical 
wisdom,  is  this  law  of  consideration,  than 
were  a  book  of  minute  instructions  res- 
pecting measures  in  every  instance  in  which 
we  shall  ever  be  required  to  act.  Such  a 
book  would  be  rendered  useless  by  its  bulk 
and  worse  than  useless  by  superseding  the 
exercise  of  discretion  and  prayer,  and  by 


70  THOUGHTS    ON 

the  consumption  of  time  in  consulting  it. 
Let  it  not  be  thought  that  we  may  thus  be 
led  to  the  adoption  of  measures,  in  them- 
selves unlawful;  unlawful  measures  are  not 
and  can  not  be  adapted  to  accomplish  a 
good  end.  A  good  end  and  one  proper  to 
be  pursued,  implies  the  lawfulness  of  what- 
ever means  are  suited  in  their  own  nature 
and  tendency  to  effect  it.  The  requisite 
means  cannot  be  in  themselves  unlawful, 
just  because  the  end  is  a  lawful  one:  other- 
wise it  may  be  right  to  do  a  thing  and  yet 
wrong  to  use  the  means  of  doing  it!  It  is 
a  lawful  and  an  excellent  work  to  seek  the 
salvation  of  the  world ;  the  death  of  Christ, 
the  divine  command,  and  the  glorious  re- 
sults involved  in  this  work,  make  it  so ;  and 
this  demonstrates  the  lawfulness  of  what- 
ever measures  are  demanded  in  order  to  its 
accomplishment.  Let  the  end  be  holy  and 
the  means  which  it  calls  for  are  of  course 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  71 

holy  also.*  And  further,  no  other  means 
are  holy  or  legitimate,  besides  those  for 
which  the  end  does  call.  If  we  are  using 
means  not  in  themselves  adapted  to  effect 
the  specific  object  of  christian  enterprise, 
means  not  suited  by  their  own  direct  ten- 
dency to  convert  and  save  men,  we  are,  in 
this  violation  of  the  dictates  of  common 
prudence  and  discretion,  violating  holiness, 
discarding  the  wisdom  which  cometh  down 
from  above.  If  the  scope  and  tendency 
of  our  proceedings  be,  simply  to  inflame 
the  enmity  of  mankind,  or  to  convict  them 
of  guilt  or  to  involve  them  in  merited  re- 
proach, or  aught  else  than  their  recovery 


*  The  principle  condemned  by  the  apostle,  (Rom.  iii.  8,)  "let  us  do 
evil  tbat  good  may  come,"  respects  the  production  of  good  out  of  evil 
not  as  a  means,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  but  as  giving  occasion  to 
Divine  Providence  to  display  its  counter-working  wisdom  and  good- 
ness in  making  that  result  in  good  which  in  itself  tends  only  to  evil. 
Strictly  speaking  when  the  end  is  good,  the  means,  that  is,  an  instrumen- 
tality suited  in  itself  to  effect  the  end,  cannot  be  evil.— Evil-doing  tends 
not  to  good  but  universally  to  evil.  "  He  that  committeth  sin  is  of  the 
deviL' 


72  THOUGHTS    ON 

to  holiness  and  God,  then  are  our  proceed- 
ings however  evincive  of  self-denial  and 
zeal,  evincive  also  of  self-delusion  or  ma- 
lign passion;  and  well  might  we  be  ad- 
dressed with  the  reprehensive  question  of 
the  prophet,  "who  hath  required  this  at 
your  hands?" 

I  would  therefore  propound  and  enforce 
this  simple  principle,  with  all  possible  ear- 
nestness, Let  the  end*  be  considered  to 
learn  the  means.  It  is  a  sure  and  a  suffi- 
cient guide ;  and  we  have  no  other.  I  re- 
peat it,  we  have  no  other.  There  is  no 
other  preservative  from  the  excesses  and 
irregularities  of  fanaticism,  no  other  path  of 
wisdom,  no  other  trustworthy  guide.  If  we 
consult  the  scriptures,  they  give  us  no 
other  ;   if  we  ask  directly  of  God,  he  en- 

*  It  may  be  thought  that  circumstances  should  have  been  added ;  but 
it  is  the  consideration  of  the  main  thing  to  be  done  that  will  show  us 
how  to  proceed  in  respect  to  circumstances.  Whether  we  are  wise  or 
unwise  in  our  treatment  of  a  prejudice,  for  instance,  depends  on  what 
we  wish  to  accomplish. 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  73 

lightens  us  by  his  Spirit  in  no  other  way 
than  by  leading  us  to  meek  and  patient  re- 
flection on  the  appropriate  end  of  our  un- 
dertaking: The  Son  of  man  is  come  not  to 
destroy  but  to  save.  If  dispassionate  and 
devout  and  just  consideration  of  what  is  to 
be  done,  does  not  show  us  what  measures 
to  employ,  we  are  left  without  any  sure  di- 
rection as  to  particular  measures,  human 
or  divine.  Neither  by  his  word,  nor  in 
answer  to  prayer,  does  God  directly  in- 
struct us,  as  to  the  specific  measures  pro- 
per to  be  used  in  particular  cases.  His  in- 
structions are  general,  not  particular :  as 
to  myriads  of  minutiae,  we  must  proceed 
in  the  light  of  our  own  discretion,  after  im- 
buing our  hearts  by  prayer  and  meditation 
with  the  meekness  of  heavenly  wisdom,  or 
walk  in  the  darkness  of  our  own  self-will 
and  pride. 

Guided   by  the   principle  of  common 


74  THOUGHTS    ON 

sense  now  brought  into  notice,  we  come  at 
once  to  the  following  results,  which,  as 
maxims  of  conduct  in  this  great  work,  I 
might  profitably  occupy  hours  in  illustrat- 
ing, but  which  I  have  time  barely  to  men- 
tion. They  are  announced  not  as  new 
discoveries,  but  as  old  and  familiar  pre- 
cepts, which  amidst  the  excitements  and 
stirs  of  the  times,  ought  not  to  lose  their 
place  in  our  remembrance. 

1.  To  have  respect  in  our  proceedings 
to  general  and  future  consequences,  and 
not  to  immediate  and  particular  ones  only. 
Our  work  is  complicate  and  progressive ; 
what  we  do  at  one  time  and  place,  may 
have  influence  on  what  we  may,  hereafter 
have  to  do  ;  and  if  ill  done,  may  hinder  us ; 
and  however  gainful  at  the  moment,  may 
be  a  loss  on  the  whole. 

2.  To  work,  not  as  if  we  were  isolated 
agents,  exerting  each  one  his  own  strength 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  75 

apart  from  all  others,  but  as  those  should 
do,  who  are  workers  together  with  others, 
whose  movements  they  should  seek  not  to 
interfere  with,  but  to  second  and  promote. 
The  end  we  are  seeking  is  one  which 
others  are  seeking  along  with  us,  and  mea- 
sures adapted  to  thwart  their  measures,  or 
evincive  of  contempt  or  disregard  of  them, 
may  be  such  as  a  just  consideration  of  the 
end  would  lead  us  to  forego. 

3.  To  vary  our  measures  so  as  to  have 
them  always  as  perfectly  adapted  as  possi- 
ble to  the  varieties  of  character  and  cir- 
cumstances in  those  on  whom  they  are  to 
be  tried :  not  to  deal  with  common  men, 
as  if  they  were  pharisees  who  had  com- 
mitted the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost;  nor 
with  intelligent  and  educated  men,  as  if 
they  knew  nothing;  nor  with  men  of  taste 
and  manners,  as  if  they  were  barbarians ; 
nor  with  rude  and  ignorant  persons  as  if 


76  THOUGHTS    ON 

they  were  philosophers.  Consideration  of 
the  end  in  specific  cases  will  at  once  dic- 
tate to  us,  as  it  did  to  the  great  apostle, 
the  expediency  of  following  this  rule. 

4.  Not  to  think,  that,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  we  are  unfaithful  or  time-serving,  if 
we  do  not  assail  directly  and  with  intense 
censures,  whatever  we  find  wrong  whether 
in  Church  or  State,  communities  or  indi- 
viduals. Things  may  be  wrong  and  it  may 
be  our  duty  to  aim  at  reforming  them ;  but 
instead  of  an  instant  assault,  the  true  mode 
of  correction  may  be  not  the  direct  but  an 
unobtrusive  and  indirect  one.  Peculiar 
wisdom  is  necessary  to  regulate  us  in  re- 
gard to  the  different  modes  of  proceeding 
proper  in  respect  to  different  sorts  of  evils ; 
but  considering  the  end  with  meekness  of 
heart,  and  reliance  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
a  readiness  to  walk  in  the  footsteps  of 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  77 

Christ  and  the  apostles,  will  supply  that 
wisdom. 

5.  ]\Tot  always  to  aim  at  doing  what  is 
abstractly  or  absolutely  best,  but  to  con- 
tent ourselves  with  doing  the  best  which 
can  be  done,  in  the  circumstances  in  which 
we  find  ourselves  placed.  It  may  be,  that 
far  less  energetic  measures  than  those  we 
could  wish  to  use,  are  the  only  ones  the 
case  admits  of;  and  thus  our  benevolence 
may  be  restrained  by  circumstances  which 
cannot  be  altered.  We  cannot  relinquish 
our  purpose ;  we  cannot  do  all  we  could 
wish  to  do,  in  order  to  accomplish  it ;  let 
us  then  do  the  best  we  can,  in  the  circum- 
stances in  which  we  are  required  to  act. 

6.  Not  to  judge  ourselves  unfaithful  if 
we  do  not  on  all  occasions  tell  the  whole 
truth,  and  tell  it  as  strongly  as  possible, 
and  tell  it  at  once ;  but  to  use  discretion  in 
bringing  forth  the  truth,  and  bring  it  forth, 


78  THOUGHTS    ON 

if  need  be,  very  gradually  and  by  instal- 
ments ;  letting  the  rays  of  knowledge 
gently  in  at  first,  and  proportioning  their 
increase,  to  the  increase  of  men's  ability  to 
bear  them.  It  is  often  perfectly  manifest, 
that  the  end,  without  a  miracle  is  attainable 
in  no  other  way. 

7.  To  address  ourselves  assiduously 
and  skilfully  to  every  thing  in  man  which 
may  be  made  to  contribute  to  the  attain- 
ment of  our  purpose  ;  not  to  conscience 
only,  or  a  sense  of  guilt  only,  or  fear  only; 
but  to  the  social  principle,  to  self-respect, 
to  the  love  of  excellence,  to  the  desire  of 
happiness  and  every  other  natural  power 
and  susceptibility.  This  course  is  right, 
nay,  is  obligatory  and  necessary,  in  justly 
and  wisely  pursuing  such  an  end  as  that 
in  question,  reclaiming  men  to  holiness 
and  heaven. 

These  then  I  propound  as  maxims  of 


EVANGELIZING   THE    WORLD.  79 

evangelism:  They  are  manifestly  founded 
in  fitness  and  propriety,  and  it  might  be 
shown,  if  time  were  not  wanting,  that  they 
have  the  sanction  of  our  Saviour's  and  the 
apostles'  practice,  and  further  that  they 
have  been  strictly  conformed  to,  by  the  Su- 
preme Disposer  and  Ruler  himself,  in  the 
general  course  of  the  divine  dispensations 
toward  man  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world. 

IV.  I  am  aware  that  the  period  ordina- 
rily given  to  the  exercises  of  public  wor- 
ship is  already  past,  and  yet  I  must  not 
leave  the  remaining  parts  of  the  subject 
wholly  uninconsidered.  A  word  or  two  at 
least  on  each  of  these  must  be  spoken. 

If  any  one  should  suppose  from  what 
has  been  said  under  the  former  division, 
that  zeal  is  not  demanded  in  spreading  the 
gospel,  I  must  protest  against  the  infer- 


80  THOUGHTS    ON 

ence  not  only  as  the  exact  reverse  of  my 
belief,  but  as  by  no  means  contained  in  the 
premises.  Are  zeal  and  discretion  anta- 
gonist qualities  1  or  must  we  be  counted 
the  enemies  of  zeal  because  we  prefer  a 
different  kind  of  zeal  from  that  driving 
sort  so  stigmatized  in  scripture  1  May  not 
zeal  work  by  discretion,  and  have  its 
sphere  and  its  operations  thus  enlarged  ? 
Assuredly,  there  is  quite  as  much  occasion 
for  zeal,  according  to  the  view  which  has 
been  given  of  the  plan  of  proceeding  in 
the  foregoing  remarks,  as  according  to  the 
opposite  or  any  other  view.  Why  may  we 
not  be  as  zealous  in  pursuing  the  path  of 
wisdom  as  the  path  of  indiscretion?  The 
power  of  motive  is  not  diminished  but  in- 
creased. The  magnitude  of  the  end  is 
better  appreciated,  and  the  consciousness 
of  pursuing  it  wisely,  gives  the  strongest 
assurance  of   success,  and  thus  induce- 


EVANGELIZING    THE   WORLD.  81 

ment  to  effort,  is  eveiy  way,  augmented. 
Let  no  one  then  mistake  the  drift  of  my 
former  remarks.     I  have  not  meant  to  en- 
courage  lukewarmness   in   the   work   of 
God.     I  have  not  meant  to  intimate  that 
the  Church  generally,  or  any  single  indivi- 
dual in  the  Church,  is  too  zealously  engag- 
ed in  this  work.     I  have  not  said  this,  and 
I  do  not  believe  it.     Far  otherwise  is  my 
conviction.     Active  as  the  age  is,  it  must 
doubtless  be  incomparably  more  active  in 
the  department  of  religious  benevolence, 
before  the  world  is  evangelized.    There  is 
not  excitement  enough,  not  intensity  enough 
in  our  general  tone  of  feeling,  to  convince 
mankind  that  we  are  in  earnest  in  seeking 
their  salvation.     They  do  not  believe,  and 
while  we  proceed  as  we  now  do,  they  will 
not  believe, that  we  are  sincere;  and  hence 
their  deep  infatuation  in  respect  to  their 

eternal  relations  and  interests.     The  facts 

8 


CW  THOUGHTS    ON 

of  our  religion,  demand  that  we  give 
ourselves  up  to  the  work  of  saving  our 
fellow-men  as  the  one  all-absorbing  con- 
cern of  life ;  and  we  must  meet  this  de- 
mand, or  notwithstanding  all  our  profes- 
sions and  reasonings,  instead  of  making 
mankind  Christians  we  shall  confirm  them 
in  their  infidelity  and  delusion.  Much  as 
we  should  lament  the  extravagances  of  a 
few  in  the  Church,  the  apathy  of  the  many 
is  a  thousand-fold  more  to  be  deplored. 
Yes,  here  after  all  is  the  cause  for  sadness 
and  sorrow.  The  whole  world  are  asleep 
in  sin,  and  Christians  themselves  are  not 
sufficiently  awake  to  sound  an  effectual 
alarm  in  their  ears.  This,  this  is  the  mat- 
ter for  grief  and  wonder.  The  work  of 
death  and  destruction  is  always  advancing 
with  terrible  rapidity,  and  almost  nothing 
is  done  to  resist  it.  Who  is  there  that 
thinks  there  is  or  can  be  too  much  zeal  in 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  83 

saving  men,  on  the  part  of  Christians  ? 
There  was  not  too  much  in  the  apostolic 
age,  and  it  is  quite  as  imperatively  called 
for,  quite  as  necessary  now,  as  it  was  then. 
When  our  ministers  preach  and  pray  and 
labour  as  much  as  did  the  apostles,  and 
when  the  private  members  of  our  churches 
are  as  self-denying  and  devoted  to  Christ 
as  were  the  primitive  Christians,  then  and 
not  till  then,  let  us  think  that  our  times  are 
characterized  by  an  exemplary  zeal  in 
spreading  the  gospel.  Let  all  the  Church 
assuredly  know  that  this  work  demands 
the  entire  strength  of  every  living  Chris- 
tian, nor  should  any  one  engage  in  it  with- 
out intending  and  pledging  himself  by  the 
grace  of  God  fully  to  meet  the  demand. 

And  if  thus  it  were  prosecuted,  times  of 
trial  would  speedily  return ;  and  zeal 
would  call  for  resolution  ;  and  the  work 
would  be  at  a  stand,  if  devotion  to  it  were 


84  THOUGHTS    ON 

not  stronger  than  the  love  of  life,  and  if 
Christians  would  not  again  be  sooner 
counted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter  than  be 
be  moved  from  their  purpose  of  evangeliz- 
ing men.  Be  it  known  then  that  what  was 
said  before  in  favour  of  expediency,  was 
not  spoken  out  of  regard  to  the  personal 
comfort  or  safety  of  Christians  :  No,  the 
principle  and  drift  of  those  remarks  were 
as  much  higher,  as  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  salvation  of  a  world,  are  more  impor- 
tant than  any  individual  interest.  Not  that 
I  suppose  that  life  is  to  be  needlessly  ex- 
posed, or  that  a  Christian  may  any  more 
die  than  live  to  himself ;  but  that  the  risks 
and  labours  of  all  Christians  should  be 
kept  under  the  control  of  perfect  wisdom, 
so  that  the  cause  of  Christ  may  suffer  no 
damage  by  improvidence.  I  have  not  sup- 
posed, my  brethren,  that  we  should,  for  our 
own  saJces,  count  our  lives  dear  to  us ;   or 


EVANGELIZING   THE   WORLD.  85 

that  we  might,  by  adopting  the  doctrine  of 
expediency,  be  spared  from  the  necessity 
of  surrendering  our  lives.  This  is  not  my 
belief.  On  the  contrary  I  think  that  if  we 
add  zeal  to  wisdom  in  equal  measure,  we 
shall  be  strangely  inconsiderate  if  we  do 
not  from  the  first,  lay  our  lives  with  our  sub- 
stance and  our  all  upon  the  altar,  as  a 
whole  burnt-ottering  to  Jesus  Christ.  The 
work  we  undertake  cost  our  blessed  Lord 
life,  and  he  forwarned  his  first  servants 
that  it  would  cost  them  life  likewise,  and 
it  did  so  :  And  if  wisdom  could  not  save 
them,  neither,  if  our  zeal  be  equal  to  theirs, 
will  wisdom  save  us  ?  It  may  rather  ex- 
pose us  to  greater  peril.  The  more  perfect 
our  wisdom,  if  zeal  keeps  equal  pace,  the 
more  shall  we  sect  in  exercise  that  invisible 
sagacity,  which  is  the  remote  spring  of  all 
opposition  to  the  gospel ;  and  thus  be  more 

annoyed  by  well-contrived  schemes  of  re- 

8* 


86  THOUGHTS    ON 

sistance.  It  is  not  rashness  but  wisdom  in 
measures,  that  our  great  adversary  fears  ; 
the  former  he  promotes,  the  latter  excites 
his  apprehensions  and  his  deep-plotting 
wrath.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  in  the  state 
of  the  world,  whether  in  Christendom  or 
in  heathen  nations,  to  interfere  with  his  re- 
newing the  scenes  of  ancient  persecution, 
if  he  should  think  these  to  be  again  ne- 
cessary. 

V.  My  last  remark  relates  to  the 
ground  of  all  just  expectation  of  success ; 
but  here  I  regret  that  I  must  not  dwell, 
though  the  topic  deserves  the  deepest 
consideration.  Let  me  only  remark  that  it 
it  a  fact,  as  explicitly  asserted  in  Scripture 
as  any  other,  that  the  power  by  which 
Christian  enterprise,  however  wisely  and 
energetically  conducted,  prevails,  is  not 
the  inherent  power  of  the  enterprise,  but 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  87 

the  supernatural  and  unsearchable  influ- 
ence of  the  Spirit  of  God :  And  that  as 
this  is  the  sole  ground  of  hope,  it  should, 
for  many  obvious  reasons,  be  distinctly, 
constantly,  and  in  every  proper  way,  ac- 
knowledged. Here  is  the  light  and  the  life 
of  enterprise,  the  spring  of  incitement  to 
holy  daring  and  a  martyr  life,  the  strength 
which  earth  and  hell  cannot  resist,  the  ex- 
haustless  treasury  of  resources,  the  basis  of 
assured  faith,  the  earnest  and  pledge  of 
triumph,  the  immoveable  rock  of  hope  and 
trust :  and  never,  never  should  this  be  for- 
gotten. No,  it  should  infuse  itself  into  all 
our  prayers,  all  our  plans,  all  our  thoughts, 
and  be  ever  working  within  us  like  the 
working  of  our  heart.  Read  the  history 
of  the  first  doings  of  Christian  self-denial, 
and  mark  how  all  was  incited,  strengthen- 
ed, superintended,  succeeded,  by  the  al- 


88  THOUGHTS    ON 

mighty  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     Read 
the  epistles  of  the  leading  actors  in  those 
scenes  of  glorious  wonder,  and  mark  how 
they  ascribe  to  that  agency,  whatever  was 
accomplished  through  their  instrumenta- 
lity ;  and,  as  far  they  were  right  or  favour- 
able to  the  cause,  even  the   secret  exer- 
cises and  feelings  of  their   minds.     The 
dispensation  we  live  under,  is  the  dispen- 
sation of  the  Spirit;  and  therefore  is  it  the 
dispensation  for  evangelizing  the  world.  O 
let  us  not  for  a  moment  forget  this,  while 
prosecuting  our  measures  for  spreading  the 
everlasting  gospel.       Let  us  go  forward 
with  our  measures,  looking  for  success  not 
from  our  measures,  which  even  angelic 
power  could  not  make  efficient,  but  from 
the  invisible  and  omnipresent  energy  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  :  strengthened,  by 
that   Spirit,  with  all  might  in  the    inner 
man:    Filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God. 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  89 

Such,  as  it  seems  to  me,  are  the  great 
principles,by  which  the  present  effort  of  the 
Church  to  give  the  gospel  triumph  in  the 
world,  should  be  conducted.  I  am  very 
sensible  that  I  have  done  them  no  justice 
in  this  short  discussion.  I  have  not  how- 
ever supposed  that  much  enlargement,  ex- 
cept for  the  purpose  of  awakening  attention 
and  feeling,  can  in  regard  to  either  of  them 
be  necessary.  They  carry  their  evidence 
with  themselves,  and  need  only  to  be  look- 
ed at  in  order  to  be  believed  in  and  em- 
braced by  every  candid  mind.  Nor  have 
I  thought  to  accomplish  any  thing  more 
by  my  plain  remarks  than  to  give  some 
impression  to  known  and  undoubted  truths, 
to  quicken  reflection  in  some  degree,  on 
what  I  am  sure  all  must  admit  to  be  enti- 
tled, in  the  highest  degree,  both  to  their 
meditative  and  practical  regard.  And 
why  is  it,  let  me  ask  in  conclusion,  that 


90  THOUGHTS    ON 

these  principles  have  not  been  respected 
and  acted  upon,  from  the  commencement 
of  the  recent  movements  for  the  salvation 
of  the  world?  Is  it  not  because  of  this 
that  the  business  of  spreading  the  gospel 
has  advanced  so  slowly  in  our  hands?  If 
when  modern  Christians  undertook  the 
work  which  prospered  so  remarkably  in 
the  primitive  age,  they  had  returned  to  pri- 
mitive principles  and  ways  of  procedure, 
is  it  to  be  doubted  that  they  would  have 
had  somewhat  of  primitive  encouragement 
and  success  ?  I  cannot  pursue  this  hint, 
but  leave  it  for  reflection.  Of  this  how- 
ever there  is  no  room  for  doubt,  that 
whatever  may  be  urged  as  to  the  difficulty 
of  returning  to  the  principles  of  the  first 
times,  they  are  the  true  principles  of  the 
word  of  God,  the  settled  and  unchange- 
able rule  of  the  divine  administration  in 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  91 

respect  to  this  great  matter.  They  never 
will  be  altered,  they  must  be  returned  to  ; 
and  will  as  certainly  be  returned  to,  as  that 
Christianity  will  again  triumph.  This  is 
my  conviction,  and  hence  I  have  ventured 
to  advance  them  on  this  occasion,  and 
with  some  earnestness  to  propose  them  to 
this  newly-formed  Church,  as  the  guide  and 
rule  of  all  their  labours  in  the  cause  of  their 
Lord  and  Saviour.  I  know  of  nothing  so 
likely  to  be  said  against  them  with  effect, 
as  that  they  are  incongenial  with  the  pre- 
sent state  of  things  in  the  Church  on 
earth:  I  admit  that  they  are,  and  if  this 
state  of  things  were  the  best,  or  were  ne- 
ver to  be  changed,  this  admission  would 
be  inconsistent  with  my  zeal  in  insisting 
upon  them.  But  what  is  the  present 
state  of  things  in  the  Church?  Alas!  is 
it  not  a  state  which  every  Christian 
must   lament,  and  long  to  have  changed 


92  THOUGHTS    ON 

without  more  delay?  And  is  it  not  with 
full  certainty  to  be  changed?  And  further, 
is  not  the  time  of  the  change  drawing  nigh? 
But  can  it  ever  be  changed  for  the  better 
by  being  encouraged  and  promoted,  or  by 
pursuing  plans  and  principles  which  suit  it 
entirely,  and  fall  in  with  its  spirit  and  ten- 
dencies? Where,  my  brethren,  is  the  con- 
sistency or  the  benefit,  of  sighing  and  pray- 
ing for  achange,  and  at  the  same  time  doing 
nothing  to  bring  it  about,  nay  exerting  our- 
selves to  prevent  it?  The  sentiments  and 
strain  of  this  discourse  I  am  deeply  con- 
scious, do  not,  for  the  most  part,  harmo- 
nize with  the  existing  condition  of  things 
in  the  Church;  but  my  apology  is  that  they 
do  harmonize  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel 
and  with  what  the  Church  should  be ;  and 
that  repentance  should  take  place  where 
there  is  wrong,  not  where  every  thing  is  right 
and  perfect.    Let  the  Church  reform :  so 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  93 

demands  the  great  Head  of  the  Church;  so 
the  salvation  of  the  world  requires ;  so  I 
have  intended  to  insist  in  these  free  re- 
marks. Let  the  Church  reform:  Would 
that  God  would  raise  up  another  prophet, 
like  him  of  old,*  full  of  power  by  the  Spi- 
rit of  the  Lord,  and  of  judgment,  and  of 
might,  to  declare  unto  Jacob  his  trans- 
gression and  to  Israel  his  sin,  until  princi- 
ples admitted  to  be  divine  and  unchange- 
able, and  more  important  than  the  tongue 
of  man  or  angel  can  express,  are  no  long- 
er practically  treated  by  the  Church  as  if 
they  were  false  and  pernicious  and  a  terror. 
Shall  I  conceal  it,  that  it  is  my  heart's 
desire  and  prayer  to  God  for  this  Church, 
that  it  may  be  a  Church  in  which  the  spirit 
of  the  gospel  may  predominate  over  the 
spirit  of  sect,  and  bring  forth  fruits  after  its 


94  THOUGHTS    ON 

own  heavenly  and  anti-sectarian  kind : 
that  it  may  live  too  much  in  the  temper 
of  the  Church  above,  too  nigh  to  the  throne 
and  mercy  seat  of  God,  and  too  much  in 
communion  with  its  blessed  Head  and 
Lord,  and  have  too  much  love  for  souls, 
and  too  much  zeal  for  the  general  cause  of 
Christ,  to  be  inclined  to  take  part  in  those 
strifes  of  words  and  doubtful  disputa- 
tions, and  party  movements  and  contri- 
vances, by  which  the  face  of  the  times, 
especially  in  this  country  is  beginning  to 
be  overcast.  Ought  I  to  refrain  from  ex- 
pressing this  as  the  most  fervent  of  my 
wishes  in  behalf  of  this  Church  ?  And  if 
not  should  I  have  suppressed,  or  should  I 
now  take  back,  any  thing  which  I  have 
this  day  uttered  in  enforcement  of  the 
principles  of  life  and  conduct  which  must 
followed,  or  all  hope  be  abandoned  that 
my  desire  will  be  fulfilled?      No;  these 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  95 

principles  deserve,  and  I  trust  thej  will 
soon  receive,  open  adoption  in  all  the 
churches.  The  voice  of  Providence  calls 
aloud,  and  will  call  I  doubt  not  yet  louder 
and  louder,  for  their  universal  acknowledg- 
ment in  practice.  But  if  others  will  not 
hear  the  call  shall  it  not  be  heard  by  you, 
my  brethren,  who  have  as  a  Church  just 
commenced  life?  You  have  nothing  to  in- 
terfere with  your  acknowledging  them :  no 
usages,  no  associations,  no  rooted  pre- 
judices. You  can  acknowledge  them, 
without  detriment  or  difficulty  of  any  sort 
whatever.  Not  so,  however  in  respect  to 
your  not  acknowledging  them.  You  can- 
not take  that  course  without  great  hazard : 
There  is  a  spirit  in  the  times  in  which  we 
live,  which  if  I  understand  it  aright  de- 
mands that  you  take  not  that  course,  and 
to  resist  that  demand  may  be  fatal  to  your 
usefulness  and  your  prosperity. 


96  THOUGHTS    ON 

It  is  well  known  how  much  success  in 
worldly  matters,  whether  of  individuals  or 
associations,  depends  on  their  coinci- 
dence of  purpose  and  effort  with  favour- 
able tendencies  in  times  and  occasions: 
not  less  important  may  be  such  coinci- 
dence in  order  to  spiritual  success  on  the 
part  of  Christians  and  churches.  When 
Moses,  seeing  one  of  his  brethern  suffer 
wrong,  avenged  him  that  was  oppressed 
and  smote  the  Egyptian,  he  supposed  that 
his  brethren  would  have  understood  how 
that  God  by  his  hand  would  have  deliv- 
ered them,  but  they  understood  not ;  and 
the  penalty  of  their  inadvertence  was  a 
forty  years'  protraction  of  their  bondage. 
Is  it  not  but  too  probable  that  there  are 
now  both  individuals  and  churches,  that 
instead  of  advancing  in  spiritual  strength, 
are  pining  away  and  ready  to  die,  amidst 
the  best  advantages  ever  granted  to  man- 


EVANGELIZING    THE    WORLD.  97 

kind,  simply  because,  from  their  blindness, 
or  wilfulness,  or  both,  they  do  not  concur 
with,  but  resist  and  thwart  that  mighty 
momentum  in  the  moral  world,  which  has 
manifestly  set  in,  of  late  years,  in  favour 
of  a  second  and  more  perfect  victory  of 
the  gospel.  Beware,  said  Paul  in  his  ex- 
hortation to  the  Jews,  lest  that  come  upon 
you  which  is  spoken  of  in  the  prophets  ; 
Behold  ye  despisers  and  wonder  and  pe- 
rish: for  I  work  a  work  in  your  days;  a 
work  which  ye  shall  in  no  wise  believe 
though  a  man  declare  it  unto  you.  Let 
us  take  heed,  that  this  ancient  warning  be 
not  fulfilled  in  us.  God  is  performing  a 
work  in  our  days,  and  the  evidences  of  the 
fact  are  before  our  eyes.  Let  us  see  to 
it  that  we  duly  acknowledge  those  evi- 
dences by  becoming  workers  together  with 
God  ;  aiming  at  the  same  end,  and  pursu- 
ing that  end,  according  to  the  measure  of 
9* 


93  THOUGHTS,  &c. 

our  ability,  with  the  same  spirit  the  same 
singleness  of  heart  and  the  same  zeal. 
Eye  hath  not  seen  ear  hath  not  heard 
nor  hath  entered  the  heart  of  man,  the 
good  which  this  Church  may  on  the  one 
hand  accomplish,  or  on  the  other  hand 
hinder  and  destroy,  according  as  it  con- 
curs or  declines  concurring  with  divine 
demands  and  intimations,  in  this  very  pe- 
culiar and  interesting  age. 


THE    END. 


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HINTS  TO  PARENTS  ON  THE 
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From  the  New- York.  Weekly  Messenger  and  Young  Man's  Advocate. 

Dr.  Spring's  Hints  to  Parents. — One 
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2  CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS. 

lie  as  a  chaste,  powerful,  and  popular  wri- 
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CATALOGUE    OF    BOOKS.  3 

tie  volume  would  be  attended  with  conse- 
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From  the  Literary  and  Theological  Review. 

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delivered  on  occasion  of  inducting  the 
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catholic  spirit.  To  analyze  it  would  con- 
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4  CATALOGUE    OF    BOOKS. 

of  ministry  needed  in  this  age  and  nation, 
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this  little  volume  is  most  repectfuly  in- 
scribed," it  will  be  read,  and,  we  trust, 
circulated. 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  POCKET 
COMPANION.  Selected  from  the  works 
of  John  Rogers,  Dr.  Owen,  David 
Brainerd,  President  Edwards,  and 
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The  following  is  from  Mr.  Blatchford's  Letter  to  the  Publisher:— 

I  am  happy  to  learn,  through  your  let- 
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CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS. 


rules  by  which  the  lives  of  such  men  as 
Edwards,  and  Brainerd,  and  Rogers,  and 
Mason,  were  regulated. 

That  little  volume  (which  is  the  only  co- 
py that  I  have  ever  met  with)  was,  for 
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pocket-companion  of  my  honoured  father, 
the  late  Samuel  Blatchford,  D.D.,  of  Lan- 
singburgh.  This  circumstance  alone  would 
give  it  a  value  in  my  estimation,  as  also 
with  the  many  who  were  associated  with 
him  as  a  father  in  the  ministry,  as  well  as 
those  who  were  permitted  to  receive  "  the 
message  of  salvation  from  his  lips." 

But  in  addition  to  this,  who  is  there  that 
loves  the  cause  of  Christ  and  the  souls  of 
men  among  the  ministers  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus in  our  day,  that  has  not  often,  amid 
the  toils  and  discouragements  and  anx- 
ieties which  so  thickly  beset  their  path, 
turned  away  to  such  men,  and  inquired 
the  secret,  if  any  there  was,  by  which  they 
accomplished  so  much  for  the  Church, 
and  secured  to  themselves  a. character  for 
such  eminent  holiness  1  This  little  book 
answers  these  questions,  and  introduces 
us  to  these  "  men  of  God,"  in  the  closet, 
in  the  family,  in  the  social  circle,  in  the 
labours  of  the  pulpit,  and  in  the  discharge 
of  their  multiplied  parochial  duties  ;  and  I 


6        CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS. 

am  confident  that  no  one  can  rise  from  its 
perusal  without  being  incited  to  more 
prayer  and  more  diligence  in  their  varied 
effort  to  adorn  the  "  doctrines  of  Christ 
their  Saviour"  themselves,  and  in  preach- 
ing Christ  and  him  crucified  to  others. 

Wishing  you  all  success  in  your  under- 
taking, I  would  most  fervently  commend 
it  to  the  blessing  of  God,  believing  that  in 
giving  it  to  the  public,  you  will  greatly  sub- 
serve the  best  of  causes,  and  in  a  very  ac- 
ceptable manner. 

JOHN  BLATCHFORD. 

From  the  New  York  Observer. 

Christian's  Pocket-  Companion. — This 
very  small  but  neat  manual,  just  published, 
is  a  compilation  of  some  of  the  purest  senti- 
ments and  holiest  aspirations  of  such  men 
as  Owen,  Rogers,  Brainerd,  and  President 
Edwards.  We  venture  to  say  that  no 
Christian  can  make  it  the  familiar  compa- 
nion of  his  heart,  as  well  as  "pocket," 
without  becoming  evidently  a  holier  and  a 
happier  man. 

PRACTICAL  THOUGHTS.  By  the 

late  Dr.  Nevins,  of  Baltimore.     50  cents. 

THOUGHTS   ON    POPERY.      By 

Dr.  Nevins.     50  cents. 


CATALOGUE    OP    BOOKS.  7 

From  the  New-York  Observer  of  April  9th,  1836. 

The  Practical  Thoughts  consists  of 
forty-six  articles  on  prayer,  praise,  profess- 
ing Christ,  duties  to  Sabbath  Schools,  the 
monthly  concert,  the  conversion  of  the 
world,  violations  of  the  Sabbath,  liberality, 
man's  inconsistency,  the  pity  of  the  Lord, 
Christian  duty,  death,  &c.  ;  the  last  of 
which  are  "  Heaven's  Attractions"  and 
"  The  Heavenly  Recognition,"  closing 
with  the  words,  "By  the  time  we  have 
done  what  I  recommend,  we  shall  be  close 
upon  the  celestial  confines ;  perhaps  with- 
in heaven's  limits."  *        *  * 

There  the  sainted  author  laid  down  his 
pen,  leaving  the  article  unfinished,  and 
went,  none  can  doubt,  to  enjoy  the  blessed 
reality  of  the  scenes  he  had  been  so  vividly 
describing. 

These  articles  combine  great  simplicity, 
attractiveness,  and  vivacity  of  thought  and 
style,  with  a  spiritual  unction  scarcely  to 
be  found  in  any  other  writer.  Thousands 
of  minds  were  impressed  with  them  as  they 
first  appeared  :  they  reproved  the  incon- 
sistent Christian,  roused  the  slumbering, 
and  poured  a  precious  balm  into  many  an 
afflicted  bosom.  While  writing  them,  the 
author  buried  a  beloved  wife,  and  had  daily 
more  and  more  sure  indications  that  the 

10 


8        CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS. 

hour  of  his  own  departure  was  at  hand ;  and 
God  enabled  him,  from  the  depths  of  his 
own  Christian  experience,  to  open  rich 
fountains  of  blessing  for  others. 

The  Thoughts  on  Popery  are  like,  and 
yet  unlike,  the  other  series.  There  is  the 
same  sprightliness  of  the  imagination,  the 
same  clearness,  originality,  and  richness 
of  thought,  with  a  keenness  of  argument, 
and  sometimes  irony,  that  exposes  the  base- 
ness and  shamefulness  of  the  dogmas  and 
superstitions  of  Popery,  and  that  mustcarry 
home  conviction  to  the  understanding  and 
heart  of  every  unprejudiced  reader.  Piece 
by  piece  the  delusion,  not  to  say  imposition, 
of  that  misnamed  church  are  exposed,  un- 
der the  heads  of  the  Sufficiency  of  the 
Bible,  the  nine  Commandments,  Mortal 
and  Venial  Sins,  Infallibility,  Idolatry, 
Relics,  the  Seven  Sacraments,  Penance, 
the  Mass,  Celibacy  of  the  Clergy,  Purga- 
tory, Canonizing  Saints,  Lafayette  not  at 
Rest,  The  Leopold  Reports,  Supereroga- 
tion, Convents,  &c.  We  know  of  nothing 
that  has  yet  been  issued  which  so  lays 
open  the  deformities  of  Popery  to  com- 
mon minds,  or  is  so  admirably  adapted  to 
save  our  country  from  its  wiles,  and  to 
guard  the  souls  of  men  from  its  fatal 
snares. 


CATALOGUE  OF  BOOKS.  9 

A  VIEW  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
SLAVERY   QUESTION.      By  E.  P. 

Barrows,  Pastor  of  the  First  Free  Pres- 
byterian Church.     31J  cents. 

From  the  New- York  American  of  March  26th,  1836. 

A  View  of  the  American  Slavery 
Question,  by  E.  P.  Barrows,  jun.,  Pastor 
of  the  First  Free  Presbyterian  Church, 
New- York.  John  S.  Taylor.  In  this 
little  volume  is  embodied  the  substance  of 
two  discourses,  preached,  as  we  learn 
from  the  Introduction,  "  by  the  Author,  in 
October,  1835,  with  particular  reference  to 
the  condition  of  own  his  church."  "  Their 
result  was  a  spirit  of  harmony  and  good 
feeling  in  the  church."  Such  will  not, 
we  apprehend,  be  the  result  of  their  pub- 
lication ;  for  they  maintain  modestly, 
but  firmly  and  conscientiously,  the  right 
and  duty  of  reasoning  and  remonstrating 
with  our  southern  brethren  against  the 
enormity  of  slavery,  and  of  urging,  in  all 
lawful  ways,  its  extinction.  The  North,  part- 
ly from  mercenary  and  partly  from  political 
motives,  and  with  too  many,  perhaps,  from 
culpable  indifference,  seem  anxious  to 
stultify  all  their  past  efforts  against  sla- 
very, and  yield  even  the  right  of  discuss- 
ing its  evils,  and  exhorting  to  its  abandon- 
ment ;  and  hence  Mr.  Barrows'  modest 


10  CATALOGUE    OP    BOOKS. 

and  sincere  efforts  will  not  be  very  wel- 
come to  Northern  recusants,  while  its  doc- 
trines will  of  course  be  abhorrent  to  that 
chivalrous  region  where  slavery  is  deemed 
an  ornament  and  a  privilege.  Neverthe- 
less, Mr.  Barrows  may  console  himself 
with  having  borne  his  testimony  to  the 
truth. 

PLEASURE  AND  PROFIT,  vol.  1, 
or  The  Museum.  By  Uncle  Arthur.  37^ 
cents. 

PLEASURE  AND  PROFIT,  vol.  2, 
or  The  Boy's  Friend.  By  Uncle  Ar- 
thur.    37|  cents. 

PLEASURE  AND  PROFIT,  vol.  3, 

or  Mary  and  Florence.  By  Uncle  Ar- 
thur.    371  cents. 

MISSIONARY      REMAINS,      or 

Sketches  of  Evarts,  Cornelius,  and 
Wisner.  By  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.  and 
others.    37  \ 

ADVICE  TO  A  BROTHER.      By 

a  Missionary.     31  cents. 

EARLY  PIETY.  By  Rev.  Jacob 
Abbott.    18|  cents. 

SCRIPTURE  GEMS.  Morocco, 
gilt.      25  cents. 


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